IND A vs SA A: South Africa A’s Middle-Order Fifties in Vain as India A Win by 4 Wickets

The first unofficial ODI between India A and South Africa A took place at the Niranjan Shah Stadium in Rajkot. Opener Ruturaj Gaikwad's century and the partnership of Nishant Sindhu and Harshit Rana in the last over gave India A, a four-wicket victory. In this match, South Africa A, batting first, posted 285 runs for the loss of 9 wickets in their 50 overs, thanks to half-centuries from Forrester, Potgieter, and Fortune. In response, India A won the match with three balls to spare.

Winning the toss and opting to bat first, South Africa A had a disastrous start. Half the visiting team was dismissed for just 53 runs. Forrester, Potgieter, and Fortune then steadied the South African innings with back-to-back half-centuries, taking the team to a challenging total of 285. However, Potgieter missed out on a century, scoring 90 runs off 105 balls, including 10 fours and a six. Forrester made 77 off 83 balls, and Fortune made 59 off 56. No one else had a significant innings other than these three. For India, Arshdeep Singh and Harshit Rana took two wickets each, while Prasidh Krishna, Nishant Sindhu, Nitish Reddy, and Riyan Parag took one wicket each.

Ruturaj Gaikwad and Abhishek Sharma gave India A a solid start in their chase of 286. Abhishek departed after scoring 31 runs off 25 balls. Riyan Parag (8) also lost his wicket soon after. Captain Tilak Varma (39) then joined Ruturaj, but he too was dismissed by Bartman. Wicketkeeper-batsman Ishan Kishan then departed for just 17.