MUMBAI: Skipper Ajinkya Rahane struck a dominating 91 to help India ‘A’ trounce England XI by six wickets in the second 50-over warm-up match here on Thursday.
Chasing 283 for victory, India ‘A’ rode on the 119-run opening stand with Rahane and Sheldon Jackson (59) to race to their target in 39.4 overs.
India ‘A’, who lost their opening game to the Eoin Morgan-led side on Tuesday, made the English bowlers toil at Mumbai’s Brabourne Stadium.
Rahane, coming off a long injury lay-off, smashed 10 fours and a six during his 83-ball knock as the India ‘A’ top-order came good.
Earlier opting to bat first, England were bowled out for 282 in 48.5 overs with Jonny Bairstow top-scoring with 64. India off-spinner Pervez Rasool claimed three wickets.
After a good start the visitors dramatically collapsed from 161-1 to 211-9 before Adil Rashid (39) and No. 11 David Willey (38 not out) put together a 71-run 10th-wicket partnership to stage a fightback.
Opener Jason Roy (25) was out hit wicket after pacer Pradeep Sangwan’s delivery struck the back of his helmet flap and the extra protective gear fell on the stumps as the bails were dislodged.
Alex Hales scored a well-made 51 but Morgan, who made three in the first warm-up, once again failed with the bat after registering a first-ball zero.
The two sides now head to Pune for the first of the three One-day Internationals starting from Sunday before the teams feature in a three-match Twenty20 International series.
Scoreboard
ENGLAND:
J.J. Roy hit wkt b Sangwan 25 A.D. Hales c Rahane b Nadeem 51 J.M. Bairstow c Pant b Dinda 64 E.J.G. Morgan c and b Nadeem 0 B.A. Stokes c Ishan Kishan b Parvez 38 J.C. Buttler c and b Parvez 0 Moeen Ali c Pant b Dinda 1 C.R. Woakes b Parvez 16 Adil Rashid c Pant b Sangwan 39 L.E. Plunkett c Pant b Kaul 8 D.J. Willey not out 38
EXTRAS (W-2) 2
TOTAL (all out in 48.5 overs) 282
FALL OF WKTS: 1-42, 2-116, 3-116, 4-163, 5-164, 6-165, 7-190, 8-198, 9-211.
BOWLING: Sangwan 6.5-0-64-2; Kaul 6-0-31-1; Dinda 8-1-55-2 (1w); Nadeem 10-0-41-2; Vinay Kumar 7-1-47-0; Parvez Rasool 10-1-38-3; Hooda 1-0-6-0.
INDIA ‘A’:
A.M. Rahane b Willey 91 S.P. Jackson c Bairstow b Moeen 59 R.R. Pant c Hales b Rashid 59 S.K. Raina c Hales b Ball 45 D.J. Hooda not out 23 Ishan Kishan not out 5
EXTRAS (W-1) 1
TOTAL (for four wkts, 39.4 overs) 283
FALL OF WKTS: 1-119, 2-197, 3-233, 4-268.
DID NOT BAT: S. Nadeem, R. Vinay Kumar, P. Sangwan, A.B. Dinda, S. Kaul, Parvez Rasool.
BOWLING: Woakes 7-1-54-0; Willey 5-0-32-1; Ball 6-0-46-1 (1w); Stokes 4.4-0-30-0; Adil Rashid 7-0-51-1; Moeen Ali 7-0-46-1; Plunkett 3-0-24-0.
RESULT: India ‘A’ won by six wickets.
UMPIRES: A.Y. Dandekar and P.G. Pathak.
MATCH REFEREE: Shakti Singh.
Published in Dawn, January 13th, 2017
