Gaikwad century powers India A to four-wicket win

Ruturaj Gaikwad's hundred powered India A to a comfortable four-wicket win over South Africa A in the first unofficial ODI in Rajkot. Chasing 286, India got home with three balls to spare.

Opening the innings, Gaikwad hit 12 fours and added 64 with Abhishek Sharma before stitching a crucial 89-run stand for the third wicket with Tilak Varma, who chipped in with 39 off 58 balls. Abhishek made a quickfire 31 off 25, hitting four fours and a six, but fell to Bjorn Fortuin in the final over of the powerplay. Riyan Parag did not last long at No.3, falling lbw to Tiaan van Vuuren a few overs later and leaving Gaikwad to take charge of the chase again.

Gaikwad eventually fell in the 41st over, bowled by van Vuuren, leaving India A needing 67 more with five wickets in hand. Nitish Kumar Reddy, released from the Test squad for this series, then played a handy knock of 37. Along with Nishant Sindhu (29), he added 65 for the sixth wicket to put India A firmly on course.

Earlier, India A could have been chasing a much smaller target if not for Delano Potgieter (90) and Dian Forrester (77), who led South Africa A's remarkable counterattack. From 53 for 5, they helped the visitors recover to 285/9.

Opting to bat, South Africa A were in immediate trouble, losing two wickets in the opening over. Arshdeep Singh removed Rubin Hermann before Jordan Hermann was run out by Tilak Varma. In the next over, Marques Ackerman was caught off Prasidh Krishna. Arshdeep struck again in his third over to dismiss Rivaldo Moonsamy and Nishant Sindhu then had Sinethemba Qeshile stumped.

Potgieter and Forrester rebuilt superbly, putting on 113 off 124 balls for the sixth wicket. Even after Parag removed Forrester, South Africa's fightback continued through an 87-run stand between Potgieter and Bjorn Fortuin, who hit a quickfire 59 off 56 balls to keep India under pressure.

Once Nitish Reddy dismissed Potgieter, India A regained control and wrapped up the innings for 285, with Harshit Rana picking up a couple of lower-order wickets.

Brief Scores: SA A 285/9 (Potgieter 90; Rana 2-49) lost to India A 290/6 in 49.3 overs (Gaikwad 117; Fortuin 2-50) by 4 wickets