India A produced a dominant all-round show to beat South Africa A by nine wickets in the second unofficial ODI at the Niranjan Shah Stadium in Rajkot. It was a low-scoring match, but India A made it look easy with 133 balls to spare. The bowling unit, led by Nishant Sindhu and Harshit Rana, set up the result with a disciplined and aggressive performance.
South Africa A won the toss and chose to bat first. Their openers, Lhuan-dre Pretorius and Rivaldo Moonsamy, looked steady early on and put together a 39-run stand. It was the highest partnership of their innings. But once Harshit Rana broke the stand in the eighth over, the visitors kept losing wickets at regular intervals. None of the middle-order batters could get in or build any meaningful stand, and India A held control from that point.
Nishant Sindhu was outstanding with the ball. He picked up 4 for 16 in his seven overs, finishing with an economy of 2.28. Harshit also impressed as he took 3 for 21 from his five overs. Prasidh Krishna added two wickets. The South Africa A batters struggled throughout, and Rivaldo Moonsamy’s 33 was the only notable contribution. They were bowled out for just 132 in 30.3 overs.
Chasing a small target, India A openers Ruturaj Gaikwad and Abhishek Sharma started confidently. The pair added 53 runs for the first wicket and set up the chase perfectly. Abhishek fell after a breezy start, but Gaikwad continued to look solid. He then joined forces with captain Tilak Varma, and the two stitched an unbeaten 82-run stand.
Gaikwad played the anchor role, rotated the strike well, and punished loose balls whenever offered. He finished unbeaten on 68 and Tilak Varma supported him well from the other end. With this comfortable win, India A sealed the series 2-0 and will now look to complete a clean sweep in the final match on November 19. Nishant was named the Player of the Match for his four-wicket haul.
For the latest sports news follow- Revsportz