Punjab youngster Gurkeerat Singh’s all-round brilliance enabled India A to crush Bangladesh A by 96 runs in the first one dayer of the three-match series on Wednesday.
The talented Gurkeerat contributed a quickfire 58-ball 65 to ensure a commanding total of 322 for seven for the hosts, and then effectively bowled his off-breaks to return figures of 5/29 in 7.3 overs as the visitors were bowled out for 226 in 42.3 overs.
Gurkeerat’s five-for, in fact, was his best figures in list A as the last five Bangladesh wickets fell for just 19 runs to him.
Much was expected of India’s limited overs specialist Suresh Raina, who was coming into competitive match after a three-month rest, but he looked completely rusty during his 28-ball 16.
It was Gurkeerat along with young Sanju Samson (73) and Rishi Dhawan (56), who steadied the innings as India were reduced to 125 for five at the halfway stage after opener Mayank Agarwal (56)’s fall.
This was the 25-year-old Gurkeerat’s second successive Man-of-the-Match performance after his unbeaten 87 won India A the tri-series final against Australia A.
His 58-ball innings had nine boundaries as he added 102 in 14.5 overs with Samson and another 78 in eight overs with Dhawan whose 56 came off 34 balls with eight fours and two sixes. Dhawan also did well with the ball getting 2/51.
When Bangladesh batted, left-arm seamer Srinath Aravind made good use of his knowledge of the track as he swung a couple of deliveries back-to-back into Rony Talukdar (13) and Anamul Haque Bijoy (0) with the former being leg-before and latter bowled.
Rishi Dhawan removed skipper Mominul Haque (19) and Sabbir Rahaman (25) to make it 87 for five before litton, with a run-a-ball 75, and Nasir, with 52, added 120 runs for the sixth wicket.
Brief Scores:
India A: 322/7 (Samson 73, Gurkeerat 65) beat Bangladesh A: 226 (liton 75; Gurkeerat 5/29) by 96 runs.