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Gurkeerat Singh's all-round heroics cap off impressive India 'A' victory over strong Bangladesh 'A' side

The India ‘A’ team huddle

India ‘A’ have beaten Bangladesh ‘A’ by 96 runs in the 1st of the 3-match ODI series being played in Bengaluru, after a late 5-wicket haul by all-rounder Gurkeerat Singh demolished fledgling Bangladeshi hopes of victory.

Being put into bat, India A managed to score 322/7 in their 50 overs, mainly on the strength of opener Mayank Agarwal’s 70-ball 56 and a late flurry by the lower order. Suresh Raina, who was playing his first match after the Bangladesh tour in June, was trapped in front of the stumps from around the stumps by off-spinner Nasir Hossain after a patient 28-ball 16.

Unmukt Chand, Manish Pandey and Kedar Jadhav also fell cheaply, the Indian team being reduced to 76/4 in the 17th over.

However, Sanju Samson (73 off 76 balls) and Gurkeerat Mann (65 off 58 balls) constructed a partnership to take the score to respectability, to set a platform for a stinging attack by Rishi Dhawan (56* off 34 balls), for him to take the score beyond mere respectability.

In reply, Bangladesh ‘A’ looked to stage a blistering counter-attack, but fell to an early onslaught of swing bowling from Aravind Sreenath (3/27 in 7 overs), who picked up the wickets of Rony Talukdar, Soumya Sarkar and Anamul Haque in his first spell, leaving them reeling at 34/3 after 6 overs.

Rishi Dhawan carried on his earlier good work with the bat by cleaning up Mominul Haque and Sabbir Rahman, leaving Litton Das (75 off 75 balls) and Nasir Hossain (52 off 71 balls) the task of rescuing the innings from 87/5. Gurkeerat’s golden arm was responsible for breaking their 120-run stand, which threatened to take the game away at one stage.

Gurkeerat (5/29 in 7.3 overs) took the next three wickets in his next 3 overs as he also cleaned up the wickets of Rubel Hossain, Arafat Sunny and Taskin Ahmed. Man of the Match for his half-century and fifer, Gurkeerat had also starred in the last ODI he had featured for India ‘A’ – with a matchwinning 87* and 2/42 against Australia ‘A’.

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