Dambulla: In the fifth match of the tri-series on Wednesday, June 17, India A defeated Afghanistan A by 101 runs. After batting first, India scored 319 runs for 9 wickets in 50 overs. Chasing runs in reply, Afghanistan were all out for 218 in 36.5 overs. With this win, Team India entered the final of the series.

Batting first, captain Tilak Verma played the biggest innings for India A, hitting 5 fours off 75 balls and scoring 59 runs. Also Priyansh Arya and Kumar Kushagra scored 58 runs. Team’s star batsman Vaibhav Suryavanshi failed to play big innings. Vaibhav scored 38 runs off 28 balls with 4 fours and 2 sixes. But as long as he was at the crease, Vaibhav batted in a devastating mood.

The series has not seen a single half-century from Vaibhav’s bat so far. In four matches he scored 14, 44, 21 and 38 runs respectively. Vaibhav scored 117 runs in 4 matches.

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Afghanistan failed to chase down the run

Afghanistan team failed to chase the run. Bahir Shah played the biggest innings for the team scoring 57 runs with 4 fours and 1 six off 52 balls. Four of the team’s batsmen could not even reach double figures, and those who did did not play big innings either. Nishant Sindhu took the most 4 wickets for India during this period. Yash Thakur also took 2 wickets. The rest of Nookul Rai, Suryansh Shedge, Bipraj Nigam and Anshul Kamboj took 1 wicket each.

India reached the final

With this win, India has qualified for the final. Sri Lanka A and Afghanistan A will now face off for the second finalist. Team India has played all their four league matches. Sri Lanka and Afghanistan have to play the last match. These two teams will face each other.

If Sri Lanka wins this match, it will directly qualify for the final. On the other hand, if Afghanistan win, the finals will be decided by net run rate. The final match will be played on June 21.