Yash Dhull-led India A started off their Men's Emerging Teams Asia Cup 2023 with a eight-wicket win over United Arab Emirates (UAE) A at Sinhalese Sports Club, Colombo. Dhull's unbeaten 108 helped India chase down a target of 176 with 141 balls to spare.
Earlier, Dhull won the toss and opted to field first. Harshit Rana proved the decision right with a wicket in the first over itself. In the seventh over, he got another wicket to push UAE on the back foot. Aryans Sharma hit a few good shots in the powerplay overs. In the 11th over, Akash Singh trapped Lovepreet Singh in front of the stumps. Manav Suthar in his first over got rid of Aryansh who scored 38 runs from 42 balls. Suthar struck again as UAE lost half their side for 66 in the 14th over.
The sixth-wicket partnership between Ashwanth Chidambaram and Mohammed Faraazuddin did not let any more wickets fall in the middle overs. However, they batted with a Test match-like strike rate. In the 45th over, Rana broke the partnership as Faraazuddin got out caught and bowled. He scored 35 runs from 88 balls in the 94-run partnership. Rana struck again in the 47th over. Chidambaram missed his half-century and became Nitish Reddy's first victim of the day. He scored 47 runs from 107 deliveries and did not hit a single boundary. Tailenders Jash Giyanani and Muhammad Jawadullah's mini cameos helped UAE post 175/9 on the board.
In the run chase of 176, India lost the wicket of in-form Sai Sudharsan early. Sudharsan got bowled by Jawadullah in the third over. Abhishek Sharma hit a few boundaries but he could not carry on and got bowled by Ali Naseer in the sixth over. Skipper Dhull walked in to bat and joined Nikin Jose in the middle. Jose played second fiddle to the skipper. Dhull reached his half-century from 49 deliveries with a boundary in the 17th over. Dhull continued to hit boundaries while Jose rotated strike. He got to his century in the 26th over from 81 deliveries. He got India A over the line with two consecutive fours in the 27th over. He scored 108 runs from 84 deliveries including 20 fours and one six. On the other end, Jose scored 41 runs from 53 balls including five fours.
India A will take on Nepal in their next fixture on July 18 at R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo.
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