Deodhar Trophy 2018-19, Match 3, India A vs India C Review: Shubman Gill's ton takes India C into the final

In a crunch encounter where a place in the final was at stake, a young Shubman Gill rose to the occasion and took India C straight into the final of the Deodhar Trophy 2018-19. Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav chipped in with notable contributions as well which sets up a spicy grand finale on Sunday between India B and India C.

Batting first, India A got off to a slow yet decent start. Abhimanyu Easwaran and Anmolpreet Singh built the innings in a rather typical way, with the former playing the second-fiddle and the latter being the aggressor. The duo added 99 runs for the first wicket before Anmolpreet was dismissed right after his half-century.

The danger didn’t end for India C as Nitish Rana joined the act and he too got going right from the outset. The Tamil Nadu opener completed his fifty and Rana too got to the mark in double quick time. After adding 76 runs for the second wicket, Easwaran was dismissed and Rana too followed the suit just when the death overs started.

Dinesh Karthik and Kedar Jadhav gave a thumping finish with Shams Mulani hitting a few boundaries in the end. India A registered 293 runs for the loss of six wickets. Vijay Shankar once again was the pick of the bowlers, who registered impressive figures of 3/40 in 10 overs.

India A bottle a good start as Shubman takes over

Chasing this above par total, Ajinkya Rahane and company got off to a pretty mediocre start. Although Abhinav Mukund got going in the first few overs, they clearly were drifting away from a win as wickets kept tumbling at regular intervals. At 85/3 in 18 overs, the game seemed completed in the hands of India A.

But young Shubman Gill took over the mantle and mustered some crucial runs. He and Kishan took a while to get going but once they set themselves up, they pulled the trigger and hit the bullseye. Kishan went berserk in the middle overs and reached a well-compiled half-century.

He was dismissed for a 60-ball 69 after adding 121 runs for the fourth wicket. From here, things went on a lot more smoothly for India C as the experienced campaigner Suryakumar Yadav killed all the hopes of a comeback of his opponents with a 36-ball 56.

His knock got the side into a winning position out of nowhere and they had reached touching distance with over four overs to spare. Gill smashed two boundaries in the 47th over by Siddarth Kaul to get to a hundred and his side registered a morale-boosting six-wicket win.

Brief Scores:

India A: 293/6 in 50 overs (Abhimanyu Easwaran 69, Nitish Rana 68, Anmolpreet Singh 59; Vijay Shankar 3/40)

India C: 296/4 in 47 overs (Shubman Gill 106*, Ishan Kishan 69, Suryakumar Yadav 56*)

Man of the match: Suryakumar Yadav

Get the latest Cricket News and updates, Match Predictions, Fantasy Cricket Tips and lots more on CricTracker.com.