Vedant Trivedi anchored a tricky chase with a 102-ball 83 as a much-improved India B prevailed over Afghanistan by two wickets in the U-19 Tri-Series on Tuesday. This was India B’s first win of the tournament after having lost their previous three matches against Afghanistan and India A, the third team in the competition.
Besides Trivedi, India B skipper Aaron George (42), BK Kishore (29 not out) and Deepesh Devendran (20 not out) were the other significant contributors for India B, who completed the chase with 11 balls to spare.
George won the toss and opted to field first under partly cloudy skies, and the decision paid dividends as they restricted the visitors to 202 for nine in the allotted 50 overs at the BCCI Centre of Excellence ground.
Left-arm spinner BK Kishore was the most successful bowler for India B, returning impressive figures of 3/19 from 10 overs, and there were two wickets apiece for new ball operators Deepesh Devendran (2/38 in 9 overs) and Rohit Das (2/29 in 9 overs).
Arnav Bugga and Vedant Trivedi struck once each to complete a dominant performance with the ball by India B. Even as the others struggled, Uzairullah Niazai top-scored for Afghanistan with a composed 96 off 107 balls, giving their total a semblance of respectability after they were reeling at 78 for five in the 25th over.
Afghanistan, who produced an all-round show to crush the same opponents by a huge margin of 71 runs in their previous face-off last week, started steadily to reach 25 in seven overs when they lost their first wicket, Osman Sadat departing for a 16-ball 3.
Deepesh Devendran tasted the day’s first success as he had Sadat caught behind by Anvay Dravid, the son of the legendary Rahul Dravid. Faisal Shinozada struggled to 1 in 10 balls before being trapped in front of the wicket by Rohit Das, while Khalid Ahmadzai was sent back by Kishore after the batter had made 18 in 39 balls.
Nazifullah Amiri (17) and Khatir Stanikzai (24) made useful contributions down the order to help Afghanistan cross 200. The Indians’ reply was also bad as they slumped to 115 for six in the 30th over, with Nazifullah Amiri and Salam Khan doing the maximum damage. However, skipper George battled hard to keep his team afloat with a 71-ball 42 before Trivedi took centre stage.
