India A wins Quadrangular ODI series in Darwin

 

 

 

 

 

 

In a tense finish India A defeated Australia A in the final of the Quadrangular series by four wickets with eight balls remaining.

Earlier India A had beaten South Africa A and National Performance Squad in Darwin to enter the final on August 2.

The final was a thriller as 45 runs were needed in 34 balls for a victory and India A reached the target in 26 balls thanks to a 93 run partnership off 75 balls between Rishi Dhawan (56 not out) and Akshar Patel (45 not out) for the unbroken seventh wicket partnership.

It appeared Australia A would win easily as their Test openers Cameron White (137) and Phillip Hughes (51) added 146 runs for the first wicket and a total of over 300 appeared possible.

But Dhawal Kulkarni bowled with control to take 3 for 51 and the home team was restricted to 5 for 274 in 50 overs.

India A started badly losing 3 wickets for 51 before Manoj Tiwari (50) and Kedar Jadhav (78) added 82 for the fourth wicket. Still the going was slow with Ben Cutting bowling with fire till Dhawan and Patel got together and India won by four wickets.

It was India A’s sixth successive win on the tour.

The victory is creditable for the young Indians as the Australia A team included Test players White, Hughes, Pat Cummins, Clint McKay, Alex Doolan and Moises Henriques, and others who had represented Australia in one-dayers.

On the other hand India did not have a single Test player although skipper Robin Uthappa, Manoj Tiwari and Mohit Sharma have represented India in ODIs.

 

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