India B lift trophy as Sandhu spins a web
LUCKNOW: India B lifted the Under-19 Quadrangular Series trophy as left-arm orthodox spinner Ashok Sandhu bowled his team to a thrilling 10-run win over India A in a low-scoring final at the Ekana International Cricket Stadium here on Tuesday.
Making the most of the opportunity to catch the attention of national selectors and junior India coach Rahul Dravid, Sandhu returned figures of 4/35 as India A were bundled out for 131 in 39.3 overs while chasing 142 in 50 overs. Sandhu, 17, picked the wickets of Ajay Dev Goud (18), Prabhsimran Singh (9), Yashasvi Bhupendra Jaiswal (16) and Harsh Tyagi (0) before Sabir Khan (3/32) snapped up the last wicket of SA Desai. Sandhu already has nine first class wick- ets in four matches under his belt for Haryana.
Without their regular skipper Pavan Shah, who opted out of the final because of an injury, India A never found the going easy as Khan and Sandhu kept the batsmen on a tight leash. Sameer Choudhary (22, 46b, 3x4) topscored for the losing side.
Beaten by 152 runs in their last league match on Sunday, India B too looked in trouble when they chose to bat first. Barring opener Vamsi Krishna (69, 37b, 5x4) and Ajay Sandhu (36, 51b, 3x4, 2x6), no other batsmen could impress with eight of them failing to reach double figures.
India A seamer Rajesh Mohanty and spinner SA Desai finished with three wickets each.
REYAZ EXCELS
Reyaz Hassan smashed an unbeaten century to help Afghanistan crush Nepal by 71 runs to finish third in the series at the B ground of the Ekana Stadium.
He struck 117 off 149 balls with the help of 12 fours and two sixes, enabling Asia Cup champions Afghanistan to finish on a high before the forthcoming event at Bangladesh.
Reyaz also excelled with ball, bagging 4/42 as Nepal got out for 173 in 45 overs, chasing 245 for a win.
BRIEF SCORES India B 141 in 42.2 overs
(Vamsi Krishna 37, A Sandhu 36, SA Desai 3/17, R Mohanty 3/36)
beat India A 131 in 39.3 overs
(S Choudhary 22, A Sandhu 4/35, S Khan 3/32).
Afghanistan 244/8 in 50
overs (R Hassan 117*, BK Shir 32, AK Dawlatzai 24, S Dhakal 2/28, P Sarraf 2/32, S Alam 2/42)
beat Nepal 173 in 45 overs (L Bam 25, A Sheikh 25, P Sarraf 23, R Hassan 4/42, R Murad 2/12.