Gurnoor Brar's ten-wicket match haul seals series win for India A

Gurnoor Brar completed a ten-wicket match haul to orchestrate India A's 10-wicket win on the final day of the second unofficial Test in Galle on Sunday. The result gave the visitors a 1-0 series win after the first unofficial ended in a draw.

India A started Day 4 on 541/8 in their first innings, batting just nine deliveries for two runs before declaring immediately after Yash Thakur's dismissal. Saransh Jain remained unbeaten on 70 as Ruturaj Gaikwad, who retired hurt on 13 on Day 2, did not return to bat. With a 177-lead, Gurnoor took two wickets in his first three overs, dismissing Sohan de Livera and Nuwanidu Fernando. Auqib Nabi followed with the wicket of Pawantha Weerasinghe as Sri Lanka A were reduced to 9/3.

Ashen Bandara counter-attacked with a hat-trick of boundaries off Gurnoor in the seventh over. Skipper Sahan Arachchige, who scored 127 in the first innings, chipped in with a couple of fours but Thakur struck off his first delivery to remove the left-hander. Bandara raced to a half-century off 47 deliveries and took the attack to legspinner Zeeshan Ansari for a couple of sixes as Sri Lanka A reached Lunch on 115/4.

Gurnoor returned in the second session, dismissing Anjala Bandara and Ashen (87) in quick succession. Keshara Nuwantha's brisk 26 and Dilum Sudeera's 21 helped the hosts erase the deficit, but wickets fell regularly as Saransh chipped in with a couple. Gurnoor finished with Sudeera for his fifth wicket, before cleaning up Dulaj Samuditha for his sixth, ending with a match haul of 10 for 145.

India A's chase of 33 began after Tea and they needed just 5.2 overs to get the job done. Sai Sudharsan capped off an excellent series with an unbeaten 25 off 22, sealing the chase with a boundary, with Aman Mokhade remaining unbeaten on 11. The win saw India A complete a successful tour that began with triumph in the one-day tri-series also involving Afghanistan A.

Brief Scores: Sri Lanka A 366 (Sahan Arachchige 127, Nuwanidu Fernando 44; Gurnoor Brar 4-77, Saransh Jain 4-92) & 209 (Ashen Bandara 87; Gurnoor Brar 6-68, Saransh Jain 2-66) lost to India A 543/9 decl. (Sai Sudharsan 168, Devdutt Padikkal 94; Keshara Nuwantha 5-159) & 36-0 (Sai Sudharsan 25*, Aman Mokhade 11*) by 10 wickets.