India A pull off a heist in Dambulla after Gaikwad’s hundred

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s first outing for India A in one-day cricket ended with a muted 14 but his team hung in there till the end against a self-destructing Sri Lanka A to pull off an eight-run win in the tri-series opener here on Tuesday.

Chasing 278, Sri Lanka A had the game in the bag after captain Sahan Arachchige made a sublime 74 off 72 balls. However, the inexplicable loss of last four wickets in 10 balls, including three in the final over from pacer Arshad Khan, gave India A a narrow win. The seasoned Ruturaj Gaikwad made a composed 101 to lead India A to 277 for six. The spin duo of Ayush Badoni (2/46) and Anukul Roy (2/49) kept India in the game after the pacers, especially Anshul Kamboj, leaked runs early in Sri Lanka A’s chase.

Sahan, who has played international cricket, got his team on the cusp of victory before being bowled by a sharp yorker from Kamboj. Too many soft dismissals towards the end of the innings handed the Tilak Verma-led side a sneaky win.

India A will next play Afghanistan A here on June 11.

The game also marked the comeback of Niroshan Dickwella (47 off 45), who shared an opening-wicket stand of 93 with another Sri Lankan international, Avishka Fernando (45 off 59). Both the openers could not get their slog sweep right against Badoni to be caught.

Electing to bat, India A were pushed to a mini-crisis at 16 for two in five overs after early dismissals of Sooryavanshi and Prabhsimran Singh. But vice-captain Gaikwad, who fetched his 21st List A hundred in 112 balls, and skipper Tilak Varma (60, 97b) added 150 runs for the fourth wicket to steady India’s ship.

There were persistent strong winds across the ground, and the pitch too offered some assistance to the bowlers, making batting a rather tough proposition. But Gaikwad and Tilak summoned their years of experience in domestic cricket to resist Lanka’s charge after coming together at 69 for three.