India A ease to comfortable victory in Antigua

A crucial 49-run stand between skipper Hanuma Vihari and Srikar Bharat ensured India A crossed the finishing line without much fuss against West Indies A, winning by six wickets to take a 1-0 lead in the three match series.

With less than 70 runs away from the victory, India A started the day in a commanding position at 29/1. West Indies A needed a miracle to win from that situation. They started off well by taking the wicket of Abhimanyu Easwaran but the partnership between Vihari and Bharat smashed their chances of making a comeback in the match.

West Indies A did manage to take the wickets of Bharat and Vihari but when they did, it was too little too late. Wriddhiman Saha and Shivam Dube who took India out of trouble in the first innings got together and fittingly steered them to victory.

The 84-run lead which India A had in the first innings proved to be crucial as West Indies A could only manage 180 in their second innings. And India A just had a meagre target of 97 to chase. West Indies A in the second innings were restricted mainly because of the brilliance of Shahbaz Nadeem. The pitch was tailor-made for the left-arm-spinner who brought his 'A' game to the fore and picked up a stellar five-wicket-haul (5/47) to put India A on the cusp of a victory.

The second Test of the series starts on July 31 in the Port of Spain.

Brief scores: West Indies A 228 & 180 (Shamarh Brooks 53; Shahbaz Nadeem 5-47, Mohammed Siraj 3-38) lost to India A 312 (Shivam Dube 71, Wriddhiman Saha 66; Miguel Cummins 4-40) & 97/4 ( Srikar Bharat 28 and Abhimanyu Easwaran 27) by 6 wickets.