
India-A completes a sweep against New Zealand-A
The Hindu
Samson, Tilak, Shardul and Bawa excel in the third match; Cleaver’s knock in vain
India-A completed a sweep of the one-day series against New Zealand-A with a commanding 106-run win in the third and final match at the M.A Chidambaram Stadium here on Tuesday.
Electing to bat, the host posted 284 after skipper Sanju Samson (54) and Tilak Varma (50) set the platform with patient half-centuries before Shardul Thakur gave the final flourish with a quickfire 51 (33b, 4x4, 3x6).
New Zealand-A’s chase was guided by opener Dane Cleaver who made a valiant 83 (89b, 9x4, 2x6) but lacked support from the other end as wickets kept falling at regular intervals.
Cleaver looked aggressive from the start and found a handful of boundaries in the PowerPlay as he added 52 for the opening wicket with Chad Bowes. After Bowes was dismissed by Rahul Chahar, none of the other batters were able to stick around with Cleaver and the visitors were bowled out for 178.
For India, young pacer Raj Bawa starred with a sensational four-wicket haul (4/11), including three of the last four wickets as he cleaned up the tail in style.
Earlier, India-A started strongly, thanks to Abhimanyu Easwaran’s breezy 39 (35b, 8X4). The right-handed batter went after Matt Fisher, hitting the pacer for three boundaries in one over through the off-side, with the bowler giving him width to free his hands.
Abhimanyu hit Fisher for two more boundaries before he was caught behind trying to cut one over point.