India A thrash West Indians in first warm-up game

Amit Mishra

Mumbai, Oct 3 (IANS) India A spinners gave the West Indians a taste of what to expect during their tour of the subcontinent as they bundled out the visiting team for 148, thereby setting up a comfortable nine-wicket win in the first one-day warm-up match at the Brabourne Stadium here Friday.

Tweakers Amit Mishra (3-26), Karn Sharma (2027) and Parvez Rassol (1-7) destroyed the West Indian batting, making them succumb to 148 all out in 38.1 overs.

Then opener Unmukt Chand led the home side to chase down the target in just 25.3 overs. Chand remained unbeaten on 79 (81 balls, 11x4, 2x6).

West Indians skipper Kieron Pollard won the toss and elected to bat, but his team soon ran into trouble, losing wickets at regular intervals.

Opener Lendl Simmons was retired out early on, and, apart from Marlon Samuels (56 off 59 balls, 9x4), no one was able to stay at the crease for long.

Indian medium pacers Dhawal Kulkarni and Jasprit Bumrah started the West Indians' collapse, taking a wicket each and that momentum was carried forward by the spinners.

The visitors were reduced to 76/5 by the 10th over and never looked like recovering from that position, ultimately folding for a paltry score.

India A will play the West Indians in a second and last warm-up game on October 5 at the Wankhede Stadium before starting their five-match One-Day International (ODI) series.

Brief Scores: West Indians 148 in 38.1 overs (Marlon Samuels 56; Amit Mishra 3/26) lost to India A 149/1 in 25.3 overs (Unmukt Chand 79 not out; Kemar Roach 1/28).