The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : NZ `A' thrashes India `A'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jul 25, 2006

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Sport - Cricket

NZ `A' thrashes India `A'

Sydney: The batting heroics of Gautam Gambhir (64) and S. Badrinath (63) went in vain as India `A' suffered a humiliating seven-wicket loss at the hands of New Zealand `A' in their first ODI of the Top End series at the Cazaly's Stadium in Cairns on Monday.

New Zealand `A' coasted to victory with 15.5 overs to spare after comfortably chasing a modest 217-run target set by the Indians, losing just three wickets.

Earlier, the Indians were all out in 49.4 overs after a middle-order collapse with opener Gambhir and Badrinath standing tall amid the ruins with their valuable contributions.

Mark Gillespie took a five-wicket haul in 9.4 overs, which included two maidens, to break the back of the Indian line-up.

The top order — except for Gambhir — struggled against the pace of Gillespie, who was unrelenting with his sharp line and length. Robin Uthappa (3) was the first to go holing out to Ryder off Gillespie.

The fall of TP Singh (12) and captain Venugopala Rao (8) meant that the Indians were reduced to 72 for three in 14.3 overs.

With wickets falling all around him Gambhir needed a steady partner to revive the Indian innings. He got that in the form of Badrinath and the duo took India to a respectable score.

The scores: India `A' 216 (Gautam Gambhir 64, S. Badrinath 63, Mark Gillespie five for 35) lost to New Zealand `A' 218 for three (Jesse Ryder 114, Peter Fulton 54). — UNI

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