Gurkeerat fifty and five-for, India A win

A 120-run stand between Nasir Hossain (52) and Litton Das (75) went in vain as Gurkeerat Singh starred with the bat and ball (65 & 5/29) to help India A secure a 96-run victory after fifties fromMayank Agarwal, Sanju Samson and Rishi Dhawan powered the hosts to 322.

Gurkeerat struck two of most crucial blows, dismissing both Nasir and Litton and then wrapped up the tail while Sreenath Aravind (3/29) was instrumental in pegging the visitors back early.

In a daunting chase, Soumya Sarkar started cautiously be fore getting his rhythm going by lofting a Sreenath Aravind delivery over mid-off for a four early. But the southpaw attempted one shot too many in the over and ended up pulling a short delivery from Sreenath Aravind straight to Kedar Jadhav at short midwicket. Aravind struck very next ball, trapping Anamul Haque in front of the stumps. Mominul Haque denied Aravind the hat-trick but Bangladesh A's chase was rocked as early as the fourth over.

Aravind struck for the third time with a sensational delivery, that pitched on middle-and-leg and moved back slightly to breach Talukdar bat-pad gap and send the off-stump flying as Bangladesh A limped to 34 for three in 5.4 overs.

Skipper Mominul and Sabbir Rahman launched a flashy counter-attack, chancing their arms at every opportunity. The duo scored three boundaries each until Mominul chased a Rishi Dhawandelivery outside the off-stump and nicked it to Sanju Samson behind the stumps. Four overs later, Dhawan bowled a well-disguised slower one, coaxing Sabbir to push at it half-heartedly. The bowler completed a low catch to reduce Bangladesh A to 87 for five in 16.3 overs.

Nasir Hossain and Litton began the rescue work, bringing up a 50-run stand off 56 balls when the former slog-swept Karn Sharma for a six in the 26th over. The pair looked fairly comfortable against Karn and off-break bowler Gurkeerat Singh Mann as Bangladesh A inched closer to the 150-run mark.

After starting well, the Indians took their foot off the pedal and the Nasir-Litton pair took full advantage, slamming their respective fifties, adding a 100-plus partnership and keeping the visitors in the chase. Gurkeerat then, struck against the run of play as Nasir failed to keep his flick shot down and Raina took sharp catch at short mid-wicket. This wicket ended a 120-run stand for the sixth wicket.

A couple of overs later, Litton followed Nasir back to the pavilion when he shimmied down the track for an attempted slog and missed the ball that crashed onto the stumps. This dismissal, virtually, brought down the curtains on the Bangladesh A run-chase as they struggled to 219 for seven in 38.3 overs, still needing 104 off 69 deliveries. Gurkeerat soon wrapped up the final three wickets ? dismissing Rubel Hossain, Arafat Sunny and Taskin Ahmed ? to complete his fifer and India A's comprehensive win.

First innings report:

Mayank Agarwal's solid knock (58 off 70) at the top of the order, a fighting 102-run partnership between Gurkeerat Singh Mann (65 off 58) and Sanju Samson (73 off 76) for the sixth wicket andRishi Dhawan's late-order blitz (56* off 34 balls) powered India A to 322/7 after they were put in to bat. Off-spinner Nasir Hossain (2/51) had the hosts at one stage. After Mayank's initial fluency and the Gurkeerat-Samson rebuilding, Dhawan's onslaught helped India A score 98 runs in the final ten overs to post a daunting target for Bangladesh A.

On a wicket that looked rather lively with a bright tinge of green, 20-year-old pacer Taskin Ahmedhad an erratic start bowling a wide down the leg side that ran away to the fine leg fence. India A openers Unmukt Chand and Mayank Agarwal freed their arms against the pacer, smashing three boundaries in his second over while, at the other end, Shafiul Islam had a more disciplined start. Just when the two batsmen began to look comfortable, Taskin struck as Unmukt edged a length ball to wicket-keeper Liton Das.

Manish Pandey walked out to the middle but his stay didn't last long as Shafiul induced a similar outside edge and Liton pouched it with ease again. The small section of the crowd that turned up to witness the game let out huge cheers as Suresh Raina walked out to join Mayank in the middle.

A brief lull ensued in the scoring rate as Raina and Mayank began to rebuild but the former soon shifted gears, taking the aerial route against Sarkar to collect two boundaries first down the ground and then over the mid-wicket region - as India A reached 75/2 in 14 overs.

The first over of spin right after the drinks break reaped rich dividends for the visitors as off-spinner Nasir Hossain bowled from around the stumps and trapped Raina in front of the stumps in the third ball of the over. The ball was angled in to the left-hander but there was hardly any turn and it struck Raina, who offered a tame forward defensive stroke, in line. Raina walked back for 16 off 28 balls as India A were down 76 for three in 15.3 overs. Bangladesh A stepped up their efforts on the field when a direct hit from Nasir Hossain at point sent the stumps flying and caught new batsman Kedar Jadhav short of his crease. In a bid to create further inroads, Mominul brought back Taskin as the 20-year-old Sanju Samson arrived in the middle.

While wickets tumbled at one end, Mayank brought up his stroke-filled fifty off 63 balls with a sweep for four off Nasir Hossain his eighth of the innings. A couple of overs later, however, Mayank endured a momentary lapse of concentration as his attempted slog sweep went straight down the throat of Soumya Sarkar at deep mid-wicket.

Mominul brought on another spinner Sabbir Rahman and dried up the runs. New man Gurkeerat Mann injected the much-needed life into the fading Indian essay. He contributed 40 in the 50-run stand for the sixth wicket with Samson and brought up his half-century off 43 deliveries to put some pressure back on the fielding side. Samson soon brought up his fifty as India A looked set for a strong finish, but Arafat Sunny trapped Gurkeerat for 65 in the 41st over to stem the flow of runs. All-rounder Rishi Dhawan arrived and threw his bat around for an 34-ball essay of 56, that included eight fours and two sixes. He and Samson added 78 runs off 48 deliveries for the seventh wicket to propel India A to 322/7 in 50 overs.

Teams:

India A (Playing XI): Unmukt Chand(c), Mayank Agarwal, Manish Pandey, Suresh Raina, Kedar Jadhav, Sanju Samson(w), Sreenath Aravind, Dhawal Kulkarni, Rishi Dhawan, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Karn Sharma

Bangladesh A (Playing XI): Mominul Haque(c), Nasir Hossain, Soumya Sarkar, Anamul Haque,Litton Das(w), Rubel Hossain, Rony Talukdar, Sabbir Rahman, Taskin Ahmed, Shafiul Islam,Arafat Sunny