West Indies A go one up

Losing the toss and electing to bowl on the opening day was an error of judgment by skipper Cheteshwar Pujara and by Saturday, the mistakes piled up beyond recovery as India A crashed to a humiliating 162-run defeat to West Indies A in the first of three four-day games , at the Gangotri Glades here. The Windies known for their pace, turned the tables on the home side with a superior spin attack led by an untiring Nikita Miller (5/40 and a match haul of 9-101) and Veerasammy Permaul (3/56, 8/141 in the match) to pack India A off for 152 in their second essay, an hour into the final session on the concluding day. On a day the hosts’ batting blues matched the deep blue sky, Manpreet Juneja once again was the only consolation with his resolute 70 spanning 193 deliveries. If the India A bowling, barring Parvez Rasool was lacklustre, the batting was an abject failure. With the visitors deciding not to come out to bat and declaring at their overnight score of 130/3, India A were left with 90 overs to play out or run down the 315-run challenge thrown at them. With the pitch assisting the spinners, Kirk Edwards decided to keep faith in the dominant Miller by opening the bowling with the left-arm spinner. While a wicket wasn’t the immediate result, the opening duo of K.L. Rahul and Jiwanjot Singh struggled to get going and the fact that the fielders were posted close-in did not help. Rahul (9) went first, nudging a Miller delivery to Leon Johnson at first slip in the 13th over. Jiwanjot then offered his wicket on a platter to Permaul with Edwards holding on to an easy catch at short cover. Juneja, who came in next, was dropped early by wicketkeeper Chadwick Walton. But the big blow came when Pujara exited to the last ball before lunch, trapped leg before by Miller. With the lunch score at 62/3 and Pujara back in the hut, India’s chance of salvaging a draw was fast diminishing.

Scores: West Indies A (1st innings): 429 India A (1st innings): 245 West Indies A (2nd innings): 130/3 decl India A (2nd innings): 152 (M. Juneja 70, V. Permaul 24, C. Pujara 17; Miller 5/40, V. Permaul 3/56, N. Deonaraine 2/29) Result: West Indies A won by 162 runs