In the first unofficial ODI at the Nirajan Shah Stadium in Rajkot, India A defeated South Africa A by four wickets in the last over after a fantastic hundred in the run chase from Ruturaj Gaikwad, to take
a 1-0 lead in the three-match series. In pursuit of a 286-run target, the right-handed batter brought up his 16th hundred in List A cricket, scoring 117 off 129 with 12 fours to set-up the victory for India A.
Earlier, South Africa A captain Marques Ackerman won the toss and decided to bat first before getting off to a horrible start, to find themselves 1/3 in 1.4 overs with three of their top order batters getting dismissed without troubling the scorers. Arshdeep Singh got the better of Rubin Hermann on the very first ball of the match before Jordan Hermann ran himself out in the same over and in the second over, Ackerman fell to Prasidh Krishna for zero as well.
South Africa A were reduced to 53/5 in 11.4 overs before Dian Forrester and Delano Potgieter shared a 113-run stand for the sixth wicket while going past their fifties. Forrester scored 77 off 83 with four fours and four maximums before being dismissed on the bowling to Riyan Parag and then, Potgieter (90 off 105 with 10 fours and one six) had a 87-run partnership for the seventh wicket with Bjorn Fortuin (59 off 56 with eight fours).
Ultimately, South A posted a competitive total of 285/9 in their allotted 50 overs before India A got off to a flyer in the run chase courtesy of Abhishek Sharma, who scored 31 off 25 with four fours and a six before being dismissed by Fortuin. He shared a 64-run stand for the first wicket with Ruturaj Gaikwad within the first powerplay before Riyan Parag was trapped lbw by Tiaan van Vuuren for eight off 10.
Gaikwad shared an 89-run stand for the third wicket with Tilak Varma (39 off 58 with two fours) to put India A well on their way to chasing down the runs. The 28-year-old lost his wicket to Van Vuuren after a well made hundred just after Ishan Kishan’s dismissal, to give South Africa A a sniff in the contest before Nitish Kumar Reddy and Nishant Sindhu put it beyond them.
Reddy (37 off 26 with three fours and six) and Sindhu (29* off 26 with three fours) shared a 65-run stand for the sixth wicket to put India A within touching distance of the target before Harshit Rana finished it off in style with a six.
