All-round India A crush Afghanistan A by 101 runs, make tri-series final

India A snapped their two-match winless run in the tournament, while also sealing their spot in Sunday’s final

A compelling all-round performance helped India A thrash Afghanistan A by 101 runs and qualify for the One-day tri-series final here on Wednesday.

After amassing 319 for nine riding on fifties by skipper Tilak Varma, Priyansh Arya and Kumar Kushagra, India A bowlers produced a unified show to bundle out Afghanistan A for mere 218 in 36.5 overs.

India A thus snapped their two-match winless run in the tournament, while also sealing their spot in Sunday’s final. The victory took India A to the top of the points table with four points and the best Net Run Rate of 0.597 among all three teams.

Sri Lanka A, who also have four points, are second with 0.494, while Afghanistan A are languishing at the bottom with only two points and a NRR of -1.602.  Afghanistan A, who will take on Sri Lanka A here on Friday in the final round match, will thus need a massive win to move past the hosts.  Nishant Sindhu was the pick of the bowlers as he returned 4/31 from his 6.5 overs, while pacer Yash Thakur claimed 2/48 from his seven overs.

Anshul Kamboj, Vipraj Nigam, Suryansh Shedge, and Anukul Roy claimed one wicket apiece.

For Afghanistan, Bahir Shah (57 off 52 balls; 4 fours, 1 six) and Faisal Shinozada (46) provided some resistance but most of their batters failed to convert their starts.