India A beat New Zealand A by 64 runs in 4th unofficial ODI

With a 2-0 lead in the five-match series and only one match to go, India A bagged the ongoing One-Day series against New Zealand A, having secured a 64-run victory in the fourth unofficial ODI. At the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, Visakhapatnam on Friday, India A won the toss and elected to bat. While the hosts made as many as six changes, New Zealand changed four players.

They put up 289 runs on the board for the loss of 6 wickets after 50 overs, with generous contributions from Abhimanyu Easwaran, Deepak Hooda and Vijay Shankar and later defended the total, bundling the visitors for just 225 with 4.5 overs remaining. Easwaran, with his 83 was the highest scorer in the innings. Though he lost his partner early, he built the innings steadily and pushed India past the 100-run-mark with ease.

Hooda-Shankar partnership steers India to a big score

Then followed the Hooda-Shankar partnership that guided the hosts’ to a competitive and rather par total. While Shankar remained the aggressor among the two, Hooda uncharacteristically played the anchor’s role with a slow knock. For New Zealand, Scott Kuggeleijn registered best figures with his 2 for 37.

Kiwi opener George Worker played a power-packed knock, piling 108 runs, in reply but the rest of the team failed to match up to the efforts. Skipper Henry Nicholls’ 37 was the second-highest scorer of the innings while seven players scored in single-digit. The Indian bowlers ripped through the Kiwi batting line-up and prevented a big partnership.

Left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem was once again the pick of the bowlers as the Black Caps continued to struggle against him. He concluded the game with figures of 4 for 33 while pacer Siddharth Kaul was the second best in the wickets column with his haul of 3 for 25.

Brief Scores:

India A: 289 for 6 (Abhimanyu Easwaran 83, Deepak Hooda 59, Vijay Shankar 60*; Seth Rance 1 for 57, Matt Henry 1 for 56, Scott Kuggeleijn 2 for 37, George Worker 1 for 29)

New Zealand A: 225 all out (George Worker 108, Henry Nicholls 37; Shardul Thakur 2 for 41, Siddharth Kaul 3 for 25, Shahbaz Nadeem 4 for 33)

India A won by 64 runs.