On the final day of the game, off-spinner Kotian picked four wickets while left-arm spinner took three scalps to ensure India A won with a session to spare by bowling out India D for 301. Chasing 488 was always improbable for India D, and none of the batters gave support to Ricky Bhui, who waged a lone batter with a resolute 113.
Resuming from 62/1 in 19 overs, Bhui and Yash Dubey were free-flowing in their boundaries, as the former reached his half-century in 69 balls. But the 100-run stand for the second wicket ended when Dubey was run out by Mulani for 37. In his next over, Mulani struck by enticing Devdutt Padikkal to go for a drive and took out his leg-stump.
Bhui and captain Shreyas Iyer stabilised things with an enterprising 53-run stand, before Mulani castled the latter around his legs. Sanju Samson looked in pristine touch while dancing down the pitch to take quick boundaries off Kotian and Mulani to make 40 off 45 balls, before the left-arm spinner had him nicking behind.
Though Bhui marched forward to bring a quality century off 170 balls, his dismissal to Kotian eased India A’s path to victory. Despite Saurabh Kumar and Harshit Rana hitting a couple of boundaries, they just couldn’t deny the inevitable as the game ended in India A’s favour before tea.
Brief Scores: India A 290 and 380/3 beat India D 183 and 301 (Ricky Bhui 113; Tanush Kotian 4-73, Shams Mulani 3-117) by 186 runs
--IANS
