Axar Patel’s all-round heroics in vain, West Indies A beat India A in thriller

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West Indies A registered their first win of the five-match unofficial ODI series on Friday (local time) as they defeated India A by five runs in a nail-biting contest at Antigua.

Chasing 299, India A got off to a steady start as openers Anmolpreet Singh and Ruturaj Gaikwad provided a 32-run stand, but their resistance was cut short by Sherfane Rutherford’s brilliance in the field as he dismissed Singh (11).

The Indian team kept on losing wickets in the middle and they were not able to stitch a solid partnership and were reduced to 127/5 in the 26th over.

Axar Patel held the fort by keeping a good ix of caution and aggression and he went on to score unbeaten at 81.

Krunal Pandya, Washington Sundar too played their parts in the rescue-act. Both the players went on to score 45, but just when it looked they can help India keep clean sheet, both of the left-handers were dismissed and India’s hopes.

Earlier, India A won the toss and opted to bowl first. Roston Chase’s knock of 84 runs enabled West Indies to post the score of 298/9 in the allotted fifty overs.

Devon Thomas, Chase, and Jonathon Carter went on to register scores of fifty-plus to consolidate the Carribean’s side batting performance.

Khaleel Ahmed scalped four wickets for India, but in the end, Romario Shephard scored 21 runs off just 8 balls to propel West Indies over the 295-run mark.

India, having already won the series (3-1) will face the hosts in the fifth and final ODI on July 21.

Brief Scores: West Indies A 298/9 (Roston Chase 84, Devon Thomas 70, Khaleel Ahmed 4-67) beat India A 293/9 (Axar Patel 81*, Washington Sundar 45, Roman Powell 2-47) by five runs.