Shardul Thakur-Kuldeep Sen broke the backbone of the Kiwi team, Sanju Samson’s team won the match 18 overs ago

India A defeated New Zealand A by 7 wickets in the first unofficial ODI of the 3-match series. India A led by Sanju Samson won the match 18.1 overs earlier. Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Sen, Rituraj Gaikwad, Rajat Patidar and the captain himself played important roles in his victory.

First Shardul Thakur took 4 wickets for 32 runs in 8.2 overs. Kuldeep Sen took 3 wickets for 30 runs. Kuldeep Yadav also managed to take a wicket. He bowled the most economical and conceded just 22 runs in 9 overs. Batting later, Rituraj Gaikwad made 41 off 54 balls, Rahul Tripathi made 31 off 40 balls. Apart from this, Rajat Patidar scored 45 off 41 balls and Sanju Samson played unbeaten innings of 29 runs in 32 balls.

In this match played at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, India A won the toss and decided to bowl. This decision of Sanju Samson proved to be right. New Zealand A got off to a bad start. Within eight overs and 30 runs, half of his team had returned to the pavilion. Not only this, he also lost his 8th wicket on the first ball of the 19th over.

At that time only 74 runs were added to New Zealand A’s account. After this Michael Rippon and Joe Walker shared a 91-run partnership for the 9th wicket. On the fifth ball of the 39th over, Joe Walker returned to the pavilion on a personal score of 36 runs. He hit 3 fours and a six in his 49-ball innings. After this, Shardul Thakur got Rippon caught by Rishi Dhawan on the second ball of the 41st over. He was dismissed for 61 runs in 104 balls.

In this way the entire team of New Zealand A was all out for 167 runs in 40.2 overs. Chasing the target, India A won the match by scoring 170 runs for the loss of 3 wickets in 31.5 overs. The second unofficial ODI of the series will be played on 25 September at the same ground. Logan van Beek, Matthew Fischer and Michael Rippon took one wicket each for New Zealand A.