The final of the Deodhar Trophy 2015/16 was played between India A, led by Ambati Rayudu and India B, led by Unmukt Chand at the Green Park, Kanpur on January 29. India A won the tournament by beating India B by a whopping 87 runs.
It was India A captain Ambati Rayudu who won the toss and elected to bat first. Both the openers Faiz Fazal and Murali Vijay started off really well as they formed a 162 runs opening partnership. Vijay missed the chance to get to the three-figure mark as he was out for 69. But his partner Fazal went on to score a century which incidentally is the lone hundred of the match.
He got out on 100 but not before teasing the opponent bowlers with his classy innings. Middle-order batsman Kedar Jadhav continued his brilliant form and smashed the bowlers all around the park as he scored 58 of just 39 balls, including two massive sixes. In their scheduled 50 overs India A posted a good total of 286 for the loss of seven wickets.
Collective bowling effort trumps Binny-inspired India B
For the India B bowlers, they had to work hard for their share of joy. Among the bowlers Dhawal Kulkarni was clearly the best bowler for them. His figures of two for 31 in 10 overs were superb in the circumstances of the match. Fast-bowler Nathu Singh also picked up two important wickets. Baba Aparajith and Stuart Binny also chipped in with one wicket apiece.
India B opened their innings with their captain Unmukt Chand and Mayank Agarwal. They did not get to a solid start which was required for the chase. Both of the openers went to the pavilion cheaply. The India B’s batting line up did not show much resistance as only one of the batsman went past the half-century mark, that being Stuart Binny. The highlight of their innings was the all-rounder’s fighting innings of 60 of 73 balls. Suryakumar Yadav also played a good knock of 45 but wasn’t able to convert it into a big score as they were all out for 199 in 40.4 overs.
It was a collective bowling effort from the India A side. Every bowler did his job well. But the pick of the bowlers was Shahbaz Nadeem with 3/36. Sreenath Aravind, Krishna Das, and Shardul Thakur all picked two wickets each with a good economy rate of less than seven. Amit Mishra also picked an important wicket.
Brief Scores – INDIA A 286/7 (Fazal 100, Vijay 59; Kulkarni 2/31, Singh 2/58) defeated INDIA B 199 all out (Binny 60, Yadav 45; Nadeem 3/36, Das 2/32)
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