Gaikwad, Rana shine as India A beat SA A by 9 wickets to clinch series

Rajkot, Nov 16 (PTI) Ruturaj Gaikwad made an unbeaten fifty following Harshit Rana's three-wicket burst as India A crushed South Africa A by nine wickets in the second unofficial ODI here on Sunday.

The victory helped India A to take an insurmountable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.

Pacer Rana (3/21) and left-arm spinner Nishant Sindhu (4/16) helped India bowl out the visitors for a lowly 132 in 20.3 overs, and then scaled down the target in 27.5 overs while posting 135 for one.

Abhishek Sharma (32, 22 balls) played a typically cavalier innings and assisted Gaikwad (68 not out) to add 53 runs for the opening wicket in just 8.1 overs.

But Abhishek holed out to Luhan Dre Pretorious off pacer Lutho Sipamla to give SA some respite.

However, Gaikwad and skipper Tilak Verma (29 not out) knocked off the remaining runs calmly, and the former applied the finishing touches to the match with a boundary off off-spinner Prenelan Subrayen.

Earlier, South Africa batters had little clue against Rana's pace and the guile of Sandhu as they shared seven wickets among them.

The domination of the home side was so absolute that there was not even one score above 40 in SA innings.

Opener and wicketkeeper batter Rivaldo Moonsamy (33, 34 balls) was the top-scorer in SA's abysmal innings.

Brief scores: South Africa A: 132 all out in 30.3 overs (Rivaldo Moonsamy 33, Harshit Rana 3/21, Nishant Sandhu 4/18) lost to India A: 135/1 in 27.5 overs (Ruturaj Gaikwad 68 not out, Tilak Varma 29 not out, Abhishek Sharma 32) by 9 wickets. PTI UNG AH AH