India A cruised to a massive 93-run win over a wayward West Indies A in the one-off T20 game at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore on Saturday.
Batting first on winning the toss, the Indians did as they pleased to put up 214 for seven against an ordinary Windies attack that sent down as many as 15 wides.
Facing a huge target, the Windies lost wickets in a hurry, though their runs came at a fair clip on a belter of a pitch and were bundled out for 121 in 16.2 overs with leg-spinner Rahul Sharma claiming five for 23.
After openers Robin Uthappa (35) and Unmukt Chand (42) smashed 74 runs in 6.4 overs, skipper Yuvraj Singh (52) and Kedar Jadhav (42) added a further 80 runs for the fourth wicket to put India on course to a big win.
The only bright spot for the Windies was seamer Andre Russell’s hat-trick when he took four wickets off his first four deliveries in the 19th over of the innings, but his heroics made little difference to the eventual outcome.
The Windies’ chase began well enough as Yusuf Pathan, bowling gentle off-breaks, was hit for 19 runs in the very first over, but the pressure to sustain the momentum told on the visitors whose batsmen perished attempting big shots.
{{/usCountry}}The Windies’ chase began well enough as Yusuf Pathan, bowling gentle off-breaks, was hit for 19 runs in the very first over, but the pressure to sustain the momentum told on the visitors whose batsmen perished attempting big shots.
{{/usCountry}}The key wicket was that of opener Andre Fletcher (32) who fell to Sharma, bowled round the legs. Thereafter, it was just a matter of time before the Windies chase ended as Yuvraj and Sharma struck some telling blows.
Brief scores: Ind ‘A’ 214/7 (Yuvraj 52, Chand 47, Uthappa 35; Russell 4/45) bt WI ‘A’ 121 in 16.2 overs (Fletcher 32, Devon Thomas 21; Rahul Sharma 5/23, Yuvraj 2/24)