Bowlers set up India A’s thumping series-clinching win

Bowlers set up India A's thumping series-clinching win

India A's bowlers delivered in unison to set up their side's thumping win over South Africa A in the second one-dayer. The visitors collapsed to 132 all out inside 31 overs before Ruturaj Gaikwad starred with the bat again to complete the home side's dominant nine-wicket win that helped them clinch the series with a game to spare.

South Africa A made a similar start to the one they had in the first game even though their openers fared far better this time. Lhuan-dre Pretorius, coming into the XI for this game, struck three boundaries in his 21 and Rivaldo Moonsamy raced to 33 as the openers put on 39 for the first wicket. However, from 59/1, South Africa A crumbled to 73/5 thanks to Harshit Rana and Nishant Sindhu. After breaking the opening partnership, Rana removed Jordan Hermann and MJ Ackerman for single-digit scores whereas Sindhu struck twice to leave the visitors in dire straits.

South Africa were reduced to 53/5 in the opening game but they found three saviours in the form of Dian Forrester, Delano Potgieter and Bjorn Fortuin to bail them out. A repeat wasn't on the cards this time though as India continued to be relentless. Even though Forrester and Potgieter got off to starts, they couldn't cash in as Prasidh Krishna opened his wicket tally to hurt South Africa A further. Sindhu then rounded off a perfect day with the final two wickets to finish with a four-wicket haul that put South Africa A out of their misery.

Chasing just 133, India A got off to a flying start thanks to Abhishek Sharma. The opener smashed six boundaries in his 22-ball 32 with Gaikwad playing second fiddle at the other end. While the visitors managed to halt Abhishek's progress, they pretty much needed a miracle to claw back into the contest. Gaikwad, who hit a century in the first game, stepped up again and ensured there was no way back for the South Africans. Gaikwad helped himself to an unbeaten half-century and Tilak Varma hit a subdued unbeaten 29 off just 62 balls as India A got the job done with more than 22 overs to spare.

Brief scores: South Africa A 132 in 30.3 overs (Rivaldo Moonsamy 33; Nishant Sindhu 4/16, Harshit Rana 3/21) lost to India A 135/1 in 27.5 overs (Ruturaj Gaikwad 68*, Abhishek Sharma 32) by 9 wickets.