Ruturaj Gaikwad blended poise with precision, crafting a chic 117 that powered India-A to a six-wicket win over South Africa-A within the first one-day match on the Niranjan Shah Stadium on Thursday.
Gaikwad struck 12 fours throughout his knock earlier than Tiaan Van Vuuren cleaned him up when he tried one other, with the group nonetheless 68 runs brief. Nonetheless, Nitish Kumar Reddy (37) and Nishant Sindhu’s (29 not out) fast cameos took the group dwelling with three balls to spare.
RECAP | India-A vs South Africa-A 1st unofficial One-Day
Nitish received going with a cracking cowl drive and shortly launched spinner Bjorn Fortuin for a six over long-on. Sindhu supported him with neat pulls and drives. Their 65-run affiliation ensured South Africa-A, which frequently fumbled within the discipline, by no means discovered a method again.
Chasing 286, India-A started briskly by means of Gaikwad and Abhishek Sharma, who added 64 for the opening wicket. Abhishek’s attacking 31 off 25 balls set the tone earlier than he fell to Fortuin. Riyan Parag departed early, however Gaikwad steadied the innings with skipper Tilak Varma.
Gaikwad hit a run-a-ball fifty and continued to rotate strike whereas punishing free deliveries. The pair added 89 for the third wicket earlier than Tilak’s scratchy 39 ended with a top-edged pull. Gaikwad accomplished a fluent century off 118 balls, bringing it up with a pull over midwicket and adopted it with an higher lower for 4.
Ishan Kishan chipped in with a brief cameo earlier than the decrease center order wrapped up the chase within the final over.
Earlier, South Africa-A recovered from 16 for 4 to put up 285 for 9, because of Delano Potgieter’s 90 and Dian Forrester’s 77. Their 113-run stand for the fifth-wicket revived the innings after a fiery burst from Arshdeep Singh (2/59) and Prasidh Krishna (1/57) had tore by means of the highest order.
However the effort wasn’t sufficient to cease India-A from taking a 1-0 lead within the three-match collection.
Revealed on Nov 13, 2025