West Indies A snatch lead after Kaul’s fighting fifty

Call it jinx or sheer bad luck, but a hundred has eluded batsmen in the ongoing India A versus West Indies A four-day game contests. After four batters missed tons within touching distance in the first encounter in Mysore last week, India A batsmen V. Jagadeesh (86) and Abhishek Nayar (89) failed to convert their steady flow of runs into three-figure marks. At the Jawaharlal Nehru National College of Engineering ground here on Friday, the third day's play in the second game between the two sides offered little in terms of a result, as India A folded up for 359, chasing their counterpart’s first innings score of 406. The pick among the home team batsmen was of course, wicketkeeper Uday Kaul, who struck an unbeaten 64 apart from Nayar. At close of play, the Caribbeans were 28 without loss, an overall lead of 75. On a slow pitch which lacked life, Kerala lad Jagadeesh could only add seven to his overnight 79 and was the first to go in the morning, castled by pacer Miguel Cummins. Nayar, however, continued his rich vein of form and entertained the capacity crowd with his almost run-a-ball innings, which came to an end when the in-form spinner Nikita Miller trapped him leg before. SCOREBOARD West Indies A (1st innings): 406 India A 1st innings (o/n 191/3): V. Jagadeesh b Cummins 86, A. Nayar lbw b Miller 89, M. Kaif c Deonarine b Fudadin 26, U Kaul (n.o) 64, P. Rasool c Johnson b Deonarine 11, B. Bhatt c Miller b Cummins 11, Z. Khan b Cummins 0, Mohd Shami c Walton b Fudadin 15. Extras (lb 4, nb 10) 14, Total (in 131.1 overs) 359. FoW: 1-44, 2-104, 3-114, 4-213, 5-245, 6-273, 7-304, 8-321, 9-321, 10-359. Bowling: F. Edwards 4-0-30-0; M. Cummins 25-7-58-3; V. Permaul 32-8-88-2; N. Deonarine 25-3-66-1, N. Miller 31-4-90-2; A. Fudadin 14.1-3-23-2 West Indies A (2nd innings): K. Brathwaite (batting) 18, K. Powell (batting) 9. Extras (lb 1) 1, Total (for no loss, in 14 overs) 28 Bowling: Z Khan 5-2-6-0; Mohd Shami 4-2-16-0; P. Rasool 3-2-1-0; B. Bhatt 2-0-4-0.