West Indies A take huge lead

One team’s joy is another’s misery. This was the situation at the Gangotri Glades, here on Friday. On the penultimate day of the four-day game, India A’s batting line-up melted in the baking sun to hand the advantage to West Indies A, who stretched their overall lead to a big 314 by the end of day’s play. West Indies A, riding on impressive shows by spinners Nikita Miller (4/61) and Veerasammy Permaul (5/85) restricted Cheteshwar Pujara’s men to 245 in response to their first innings total of 429. In with an option to enforce the follow-on after gaining a 184-run lead and aided by a crumbling pitch, skipper Kirk Edwards, however, decided to pile more misery on the home team, moving to 130/3 at the close. With the pitch offering uneven bounce to the pacers and big turns for spinners, India A, resumed at the overnight 124/3. Nikita Miller went on to bowl an unchanged 26 overs which proved crucial for the visitors. Keeping with his skipper’s instructions, Miller stuck to his task at one end. The 23-year-old Manpreet Juneja completed his fifty, and tried to settle in with Harshad Khadiwale, but with the Caribbean bowlers sticking to plan, runs were hard to come by. Khadiwale, who was dropped at first slip by Delron Johnson lost his overnight partner Juneja, who was trapped by Permaul with a delivery that kept low. Juneja’s 151-ball 85, the lone bright spot for India A, included 11 crafted hits to the fence. The 75-run fourth wicket partnership between Juneja and Khadiwale was to be the only saving grace. Just like the track, the hosts batsmen began to crumble with Rajat Paliwal (1), Khadiwale (27) and Mohammad Shami (4) making their way back. Rohit Motwani, whose unbeaten 28 was the second highest effort, took them past the 200-mark. SCOREBOARD West Indies A 1st innings 429 India A 1st innings (o/n 124/3): H. Khadiwale c Fudadin b Miller 27, M. Juneja lbw b Permaul 85, R. Paliwal c Walton b Miller 1, R. Motwani (not out) 28, P. Rasool lbw b Permaul 4, M. Shami b Permaul 4, I. Pandey c Deonaraine b Permaul 9, A. Dinda c Johnson b Permaul 12, Extras (4b, 2lb, 4nb) 10, Total 245 (in 95.3 overs) FoW: 1-45, 2-49, 3-109, 4-184, 5-185, 6-186, 7-204, 8-205, 9-229, 10-245 Bowling: M. Cummins 18-3-41-1, D. Johnson 12-3-46-0; V. Permaul 30.3-7-85-5; N. Miller 35-11-61-4. West Indies A 2nd innings: K. Brathwaite lbw b Rasool 34, K.Powell c & b Paliwal 68, K. Edwards (batting) 9, N. Deonarine b Rasool 9, Extras (9b, 1lb) 10 , Total (for 3 wkts, in 34.5overs) 130 FoW: 1-112, 2-112, 3-130 Bowling: A. Dinda 8-2-27-0; I. Pandey 8-2-23-0; M. Shami 6-1-16-0; P. Rasool 9.5-1-41-2; R. Paliwal 3-1-13-1