India A defeated Afghanistan A. (Photo- BCCI/X)
India A vs Afghanistan A: In the fifth match of the Tri-Nation ODI Series (Tri-Nation ODI Series 2026) being played in Sri Lanka, India-A performed brilliantly and defeated Afghanistan-A by a huge margin of 101 runs. In this match played in Dambulla, the Indian team not only avenged the previous defeat but also secured its place in the final by securing the top position in the points table with 4 points.
Strong performance by India A batsmen
In this match, India A had a very fast start after losing the toss and coming to bat first. Young opener Priyansh Arya scored 58 runs and Vaibhav Suryavanshi scored 38 runs and made a stormy partnership of 75 runs for the first wicket in just 8 overs. Priyansh hit 9 fours and 1 six in his innings. After this, captain Tilak Verma and wicketkeeper batsman Kumar Kushagra took charge. There was an excellent century partnership of 104 runs between the two for the fourth wicket. Tilak Verma contributed 59 runs and Kumar Kushagra contributed 58 runs.
In the last overs, Vipraj Nigam scored a quick 30 runs with the help of 4 fours in 20 balls, due to which the Indian team scored a huge score of 319 runs after losing 9 wickets in 50 overs. For Afghanistan-A, Faridoon Dawoodzai, Abdullah Ahmadzai and Farmanullah Safi took 2 wickets each.
Afghanistan entangled in the spin of Nishant Sindhu
Afghanistan-A, which set out to chase the big target of 320 runs, did not have a good start. Yash Thakur gave India its first success by dismissing Hasan Isaakhil (14) in the third over itself. After this, captain Imran Mir (32) and Khalid Taniwal (13) also returned to the pavilion cheaply. At one time, Bahir Shah (57) and Faisal Shinozada (46) tried to bring Afghanistan back into the match by making a partnership of 87 runs for the fourth wicket, but Vipraj Nigam broke this partnership by dismissing Bahir Shah. After this the Afghan batting collapsed like a house of cards.
Indian spinner Nishant Sindhu completely destroyed the lower order with lethal bowling. The entire Afghanistan team was all out for just 218 runs in 36.5 overs. He took 4 wickets for 31 runs in 6.5 overs.
