India-A’s top-order, led by opener Ruturaj Gaikwad, fired in unison to steer the team to a convincing eight-wicket win in the fifth and final unofficial ODI against West Indies-A, completing a 4-1 series triumph here.
Rahul Chahar (two for 53) and his cousin Deepak (two for 39), along with pacer Navdeep Saini (two for 31) —all of whom made the cut for India’s limited-overs squad on Sunday — picked up two wickets each to help India-A dismiss West Indies-A for 236 in 47.4 overs.
Unlucky Ruturaj
Ruturaj (99) then led the chase but missed out on a well-deserved century. His fellow opener Shubman Gill (69) and first-down Shreyas Iyer (61) also blasted half-centuries as India-A overhauled the target in 33 overs at the Coolidge Cricket Ground.
Gill hit eight fours and three sixes in a 40-ball 69 to share an opening stand of 110 with Ruturaj. He was dismissed by off-spinner Rahkeem Cornwall in the 12th over.
Ruturaj then took India-A to the brink of victory before being dismissed by Keemo Paul with the visitor needing just 15. His 89-ball innings was laced with 11 fours and three sixes.
Century partnership
Shreyas, who added 112 runs for the second wicket with Ruturaj, remained unbeaten on 61 off 64 balls. He had three hits to the fence and cleared the ropes twice.
Earlier, electing to bat, West Indies-A made a good start with opener Sunil Ambris cracking a 52-ball 61 studded with seven boundaries and two sixes to give the team early momentum.
India-A bowlers triggered a collapse, reducing the host from 77 for no loss to 103 for six.
Sherfane Rutherford then came up with a 70-ball 65 to lift West Indies-A to 236. Khary Pierre hit four boundaries and a six in his unbeaten 35 off 34 balls before running out of partners.
The scores : West Indies-A 236 in 47.4 overs (Sherfane Rutherford 65, Sunil Ambris 61, Khary Pierre 35 n.o.) lost to India-A 237 for two in 33 overs (Ruturaj Gaikwad 99, Shubman Gill 69, Shreyas Iyer 61 n.o.) .
