[1]On this day, six years ago, Yuvraj Singh slammed a momentous six sixes against England in a league encounter at the T20 World Cup to guide India to victory.
The man was back, this time to rescue India A team against the West Indies A at the M. Chinnaswamy stadium on Thursday. Alas, there was no repeat performance of that Durban history. The 31-year-old fought well, but in a losing cause.
The home side had to be lauded for individual brilliance in the form of Jaydev Unadkat’s five-wicket haul and later Yuvraj ‘s (61, 59b, 4x4, 3x6) and Baba Aparajith’s (78) gutsy knocks. But the trio’s sparkling performances were overshadowed as West Indies ‘A’ pulled off a 45-run win to claim the three-match unofficial one-day series 2-1.
A vociferous crowd which numbered in excess of 12,000 backed the Men In Blue, who, however, failed to come together as a unit at crucial junctures.
Adding salt to their wounds was Kirk Edwards’ a run-a-ball 104, Leon Johnson’s half-century (54) and Miguel Cummins lethal pace, which saw Yuvraj’s men being restricted to 267/8, chasing the visitors’ 312/9.
With Unmukt Chand being relegated to 12th man duties, Robin Uthappa and Aparajith opened the innings on a positive note. But with Andre Fletcher’s direct hit sending Uthappa (27) back to the hut and Naman Ojha returning with a duck, the onus was on the skipper to fire, which he did before an Ashely Nurse delivery sneaked past to uproot his stump.
With Yuvraj’s exit the hosts’ hopes rested on Yusuf Pathan but the big man fell to a Cummins beamer and the rest was a mere formality.
Earlier, having sent the Caribbeans in to bat, Yuvraj was left wondering if his boys had buttered their hands instead of toast during breakfast as they missed catches and bled runs in the slips. The bowlers, barring Unadkat and Shabhaz Nadeem (2/33) looked like a pack of deer which had strayed on to the pitch, with no direction or focus.
Little surprise that, barring the first three overs, the Windies feasted on the generous offering given to them on a platter.
What worked for Kieran Powell and his men were the partnerships that they built. They were given a good start by Andre Fletcher and Powell (40) before the 28-year-old Edwards took over.
He warmed up with a boundary off Yuvraj and then cut loose with a six over midwicket off Yusuf Pathan which also signaled his 50.
Johnson joined the party after Aparajith sent back Jonathan Carter (25) to build an 80-ball-93 run partnership with his Barbados mate.
The Indian fielders were guilty for having allowed West Indies A to amass a big total especially considering Mandeep Singh floored Edwards when he was on 35.
Unadkat was the pick of the bowlers, but his first fiver in a List ‘A’ encounter came a tad too late, as his victims, primarily Edwards and Johnson, had done the damage by then.
Scorecard
West Indies A: A. Fletcher lbw b Nadeem 28, K. Powell c Uthappa b Nadeem 40, K. Edwards b Unadkat 104, J. Carter b Aparajith 35, L. Johnson c Jadhav b Unadkat 54, A. Russell b Unadkat 1, D. Thomas c & b Unadkat 21, A. Nurse c Kaul b Unadkat 10, N. Miller (not out) 2, V. Permaul c Pathan b Vinay Kumar 2, M. Cummins (not out) 0. Extras: (lb 10, w 5) 15, Total (for 9 wkts, in 50 overs) 312.
FoW: 1-74, 2-79, 3-145, 4-238, 5-255, 6-295, 7-308, 8-308, 9-311.
Bowling: Vinay Kumar 10-1-56-1, Unadkat 10-0-55-5, Kaul 7-0-56-0, Nadeem 9-1-33-2, Pathan 5-0-38-0, Yuvraj 5-0-34-0, Aparajith 4-0-30-1.
India A: R. Uthappa (run out) 27, B. Aparajith b Permaul 78, N. Ojha c Thomas b Carter 0, Yuvraj Singh b Nurse 61, K. Jadhav c Miller b Cummins 17, Y. Pathan b Cummins 18, Vinay Kumar (not out) 37, S. Nadeem b Permaul 6, S. Kaul c Nurse b Permaul 6, J. Unadkat (not out) 1. Extras (b 4, lb 1, w 11) 16, Total (for 8 wkts, in 50 overs) 267.
FoW: 1-46, 2-46, 3-158, 4-181, 5-197, 6-227, 7-234, 8-250.
Bowling: Cummins 10-0-46-2, Russell 10-0-52-0, Carter 6-0-27-1, Miller 5-0-40-0, Nurse 9-0-42-1, Permaul 10-0-55-3.
Links:
[1] http://archive.asianage.com/sssjpg-876