Sai Sudharsan slammed a sublime century (Twitter/@BCCI)
Sai Sudharsan made things easy for India A with his brilliant knock as he finished off the match in style with a six.
Opener Sai Sudharsan smashed a sensational century to complement Rajvardhan Hangargekar who claimed a fifer with the ball to power India A to an emphatic 8-wicket victory over Pakistan A in ACC Men’s Emerging Asia Cup 2023. Sudharsan made things easy for India A with his brilliant knock as he finished off the match in style with a six which also helped him breach the triple-figure mark. The southpaw smashed Shahnawaz Dahani for a six to seal the win as India chased down the moderate 206-run target in just 36.4 overs.
Sudharsan shared a crucial 99-run stand for the second wicket with Nikin Jose after Abhishek Sharma departed for 20. Jose also looked solid in the middle and hit 53 runs off 64 balls.
At one stage, it looked unlikely for Sudharsan to get a century as the remaining runs were too low but in the end, when 12 runs were required, he smashed four and then connected a couple of sixes to seal the win and his century.
India A vs Pakistan A ACC Men’s Emerging Asia Cup 2023 Highlights
He scored 104 runs* in 110 balls which were laced with 10 fours and three sixes.
Captain Yash Dhull also played a handy knock of 21 runs*, in the end, to help India chase down the target early.
Earlier, Rajvardhan Hangargekar ran riot with the ball and claimed a five-wicket haul to dismantle Pakistan’s batting line-up which was bundled out for just 205 runs. Apart from him, Manav Suthar also claimed three wickets.
Batting at number 7 Qasim Akram was the highest scorer for Pakistan A – 48 runs. Opener Sahibzada Farhan also showed some fightback but was dismissed for 35.
India wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel once again displayed good skills behind the stumps and claimed three catches and executed one stumping to put Pakistan under pressure.
Hangargekar picked two wickets with the new ball to dismiss Saim Ayub and Omair Yousuf for ducks and then returned to attack in the death over and claimed three quick wickets again to wrap the Pakistan A innings.
Meanwhile, it was an underwhelming bowling performance from Pakistan as only Mubasir Khan and Mehran Mumtaz managed to get their name on the wicket sheet with one scalp each.