Fazal's century steers India 'A' to Deodhar Trophy title

Faiz Fazal hit a century to steer India 'A' to the Deodar Trophy title following a comprehensive 87-run victory against India 'B' in the final, in Kanpur, on Friday.

Batting first, India 'A' scored a healthy 286 for seven in 50 overs riding on an opening stand of 162 between Fazal (100) and Test specialist Murali Vijay (69).

Kedar Jadhav provided the boost in the final over, as he slammed a quickfire 58 off 39 balls.

Fazal and Vijay batted for more than 31 overs during their partnership. The Vidarbha captain hit nine boundaries and three sixes -- one each of Pawan Negi, Karn Sharma and Baba Aparajith. Vijay was more patient playing 91 balls for his 69 with three fours and equal number of sixes.

In reply, India 'B' were bowled out for 199 in 40.4 overs with Krishna Das (2/32), Sreenath Aravind (2/43) and Shardul Thakur (2/47) sharing the bulk of the spoils. Left-arm spinners Shahbaz Nadeem (3/36) then polished off the tail with only Stuart Binny scoring a respectable 60.

India 'B' lost the match inside the first 15 overs with half of the team back in the hut for 54 runs.

Skipper Unmukt Chand (8), Mayank Agarwal (3), Shreyas Iyer (24), Bapa Aparajith (0) and Dinesh Karthik (12) were back due to some fine bowling by pacers Das and Aravind, who accounted for four of the first five wickets.

Suryakumar Yadav (45) and Binny added 62 runs for the sixth wicket but were not able to prevent their team from going down.

Brief Scores:

India 'A': 286/7 (Faiz Fazal 100, Murali Vijay 69, Kedar Jadhav 58 no, Dhawal Kulkarni 2/31).

India 'B': 199 in 40.4 overs (Stuart Binny 60, Suryakumar Yadav 45, Krishna Das 2/32, Srinath Aravind 2/43, Shardul Thakur 2/47).

Image: India 'A' celebrate after winning the Deodhar Trophy final against India 'B' in Kanpur, on Friday.

Photograph courtesy: BCCI