India A beat Gujarat to set up a title clash with India B

India A led by Kedar Jadhav’s outstanding 61 ball 91 runs knock beat Gujarat by six wickets to register a place in the final of the Deodhar Trophy. Gujarat had set a target of 273 runs which was easily mowed down by the India B.

Parthiv Patel and debutant Ketan Panchal gave Gujarat has a stable start in a must-win game which was virtually a semi-final between both the teams. The opener began with an 81 run stand before Panchal fell victim to Shardul Thakur. Manpreet Juneja then shared a 60 runs stand for the second wicket to take the Gujarat innings forward. After a reasonably good start to their first innings, Gujarat began to clatter as spinners Amit Mishra (3/48) and Parvez Rasool (3/47) dismantled the rest of the Gujarat batting order. The spinning duo struck in quick successions and did not let the any of the Gujarat batsman to settle down. Parthiv Patel at the other end was fighting a lone battle.

Rasool set off the downfall for the Gujarat by dismissing Juneja to break 2nd wicket partnership.

Chirag Gandhi, last match’s hero, was also a failure today and was dismissed by medium pacer Faiz Fazal. Rasool came back again and picked two more wickets in the space of his three over. One of them was the all important wicket of Parthiv Patel. Amit Mishra then came into the party and wiped out the lower order. However, in spite of losing wicket at regular intermissions, Gujarat still managed a competitive score of 272 eventually.

Amidst this entire wicket taking spree of the India B spinner, Parthiv Patel (119 off 125 balls) stood rock solid from one end and struck a fine century to rescue Gujarat.

India B did not start well in reply. Murali Vijay’s bad form continued as he could not sustain long. Sudip Chatterjee was also removed cheaply.  But, opener Faiz Fazal batted defiantly and shared two vital partnerships; 75 runs stand for the 3rd wicket with Ambati Rayudu and a 83 runs partnership for the 4th wicket with Kedar Jadhav.

Rayudu (75 from 89 balls) was batting well but was unfortunate to get run out. Faiz Fazal was the next to depart after him after batting excellently for his 71 balls 51 runs.

Kedar Jadhav, however, continued in an aggressive fashion and along with Naman Oja ensured that there are no further hiccups in the chase and comfortably finished off the chase to hand a 6 wicket win to India A.

This win meant that India A will now meet the unbeaten India B in the summit clash on 29th January.