India 'A' closing in on victory

Captain Sairaj Bahutule led from the front to put India 'A' within sniffing distance of their second victory on the tour of Zimbabwe after the second day of the four-day cricket match against Zimbabwe Select XI in Harare on Friday.

Bahutule shone with the bat with a fine 57 to guide India to 259 in their first innings in reply to the hosts' 152.

Bahutule then took three wickets as the Select XI stared at defeat at 125 for nine in their second innings, just 18 runs ahead with only one wicket remaining.

Resuming at 133 for three, India 'A' lost overnight batsmen Rohan Gavaskar (60) and Dinesh Karthik (52) in quick succession to be at 141 for five before Bahutule (57) and M S Dhoni (45) added 77 runs for the sixth wicket to take the score past the 200 mark.

A flurry of wickets saw the visitors folding up on 259 in 68.5 overs with strike bowler Tinashe Panyangara returning with fine figures of five for 60.

The Select XI batsmen never appeared comfortable against some good bowling by India 'A' who were well served by spinners Bahutule (3-10) and Ramesh Powar (3-33) and seamer S S Paul (3-33).

Test player Mark Vermeulen played a lone hand contributing a defiant 40 in the second innings.

The Indians, who won the first match by nine wickets earlier this week, will play the last match on the tour against Zimbabwe 'A' from August 5.