Visakhapatnam- Karn Sharma’s brilliance with the ball followed by a responsible batting effort handed India A a six-wicket win over New Zealand A in the third unofficial ODI in Visakhapatnam on Wednesday.
Batting first, the visitors were off to a decent start as openers Colin Munro (29) and George Worker (22) put up a 39-run stand before the latter was dismissed by Deepak Hooda. From being 55/2 in 12.1 overs, New Zealand A were reduced to 97/4 in a space of ten overs as the India A bowlers had a strong grip over the match. Karn Sharma (5/22) was the wrecker-in-chief as he dismissed skipper Henry Nicholls (35), Tom Bruce (14), Colin De Grandhomme (24), Todd Astle (0) and Ish Sodhi (0) to destroy the visitor’s batting, bowling them out for a meagre 143 in 37.1 overs.
Deepak Hooda scalped two wickets as Basil Thampi, Shahbaz Nadeem and Vijay Shankar took a wicket apiece.
But the Indian chase didn’t begin on a bright note as opener Prithvi Shaw fell to Todd Astle in the third over for just six runs. Lockie Ferguson then sent back Mayank Agarwal (8) to leave the Indians reeling at 23/2. The visitors, having got two early wickets looked to claw their way back into the game and took another step in that direction when wicketkeeper batsman Sreevats Goswami fell to leg-spinner Ish Sodhi for just 9 runs.
But skipper Shreyas Iyer had other plans in mind as he made a patient 37 from 36 balls, hitting two fours and three sixes. Although he fell to Sodhi in the 18th over, the damage was already done as Vijay Shankar then played an unbeaten knock of 47 to take India closer to a win. He was ably assisted by Deepak Hooda who was unbeaten on 35.
The duo ensured that India crossed the line in 24.4 overs with six wickets remaining.
Brief scores-
New Zealand A- 143 all out in 37.4 overs ( Henry Nicholls 35, Colin Munro 29; Karn Sharma 5/22) lost to India A (Vijay Shankar 47 n.o, Shreyas Iyer 37; Ish Sodhi 2/37) by six wickets.