India 'A' brush aside India 'B'

The match between India A and India B at the Motera stadium in Ahmedabad on the 12th of February began in frenetic fashion. On winning the toss, captain of the India A side Mohammed Azharuddin elected to bat. The wicket continued to play true and was once again a batsman's paradise. The score of 295 that India A notched up proved to be well beyond the reach of India B.

J Arunkumar and Sanjay Bangar began very positively, carting the bowling all over the park. Debashish Mohanty came in for some serious punishment as Bangar smashed him for four boundaries in an over.

Howerver, Arunkumar could not sustain the attack and was caught behind off the bowling of Ganesh. Azharuddin then walked out to the middle and took over the trail blazing. Azhar was especially severe against anything that afforded him width and smashed the ball effortlessly through the off side on more than one occasion. Sharath joined Azhar at the crease at the fall of Bangar's wicket. Bangar's innings of 46 included a flurry of boundaries, but in the end was a slow knock.

Sharath notched up yet another decent score in characteristic fashion as he made full use of a good batting track. He was excessively comfortable off the back foot and treated the bowlers with disdain. His 42 included 2 fours and a six.

Virendra Shewag had a bit of a dash, but was undone by a big turner from Mohammed Kaif after he had made just 21.

Niraj Patel came to the wicket and played a gem of an innings. The youngster has shown remarkably good temperament thus far. For the best part of his innings Patel pushed the ball into the gaps and picked up safe runs. When the ball was there for the big shot, Patel lost no time in planting his foot down the wicket and stroking the ball over the infield. Easily the best knock of the India A innings, Patel made an unbeaten 70 off just 62 balls.

Nayan Mongia proved to be a good foil for the young Patel and helped himself to 24 runs off 22 balls at the end of the innings.

India A finished with a huge score of 295/5 off their 50 overs.

Chasing a large score like 295 is not an easy task under any circumstances. The fact that the India B side was stacked with inexperienced cricketers did not help their cause.

India B chose to open the innings with Reetinder Singh Sodhi and Nikhil Haldipur. Sodhi and Haldipur were clearly overawed by the task at hand and went about the business of scoring runs with extreme caution. The slow start that the openers gave the India B side made things difficult for Mohammed Kaif who came in at the fall of Haldipur's wicket.

Following up on a good 90, Kaif once again got close to the century mark. In the company of Ajay Jadeja, Kaif stroked the ball around the park and played yet another solid innings. By the time Jadeja and Kaif got comfortable at the wicket, the required rate had climbed to unmanagable levels. Kaif was dismissed on 93 and Jadeja on 79 and the rest of the batting could do precious little as the last five wickets fell for a paltry 17 runs.

India A won the encounter by 40 runs and will take on India Seniors in the final tomorrow. It is a shame that a side packed with talented youngsters could not make the finals. However, Sodhi and Kaif will take heart from the fact that they have been picked as part of the Board President's XI squad for the match against South Africa. In all, it was a game that was won and lost in the first 50 overs. 296 proved to be too large an ask of the India B team.