India A Cruise Past Afghanistan A By 101 Runs To Seal Tri-Series Final Berth

A dominant all-round performance powered India A to a convincing 101-run win over Afghanistan A in a tri-series clash on Wednesday, a result that also secured their place in the final of the tournament .

Batting first, India A posted a strong 319/9 in 50 overs , built around fluent half-centuries from skipper Tilak Varma (59) , Priyansh Arya (58) and Kumar Kushagra (58) . India got off to a flying start as Vaibhav Sooryavanshi (38) and Arya stitched a 75-run opening stand in just eight overs , setting the tone for a big total.

Arya looked particularly fluent, reaching his fifty in just 29 balls, while Sooryavanshi impressed again with his aggressive strokeplay before falling while attempting a pull shot. However, as the pitch in Dambulla slowed down, India’s scoring rate dipped and Afghanistan managed to pull things back with timely wickets.

A crucial 104-run partnership between Tilak Varma and Ruturaj Gaikwad (30) steadied the innings after a brief middle-order slowdown. Late acceleration came from Vipraj Nigam (30 off 20 balls) , helping India cross the 300-run mark despite disciplined bowling from Abdollah Ahmadzai (2/62) .

In response, Afghanistan A were bowled out for 218 in 36.5 overs , despite fighting half-centuries from Bahir Shah (57) and Faisal Shinozada (46) . Their 87-run partnership for the fourth wicket briefly revived hopes before India A struck decisively.

The pick of the bowlers was Nishant Sindhu, who returned impressive figures of 4/31 , breaking the backbone of Afghanistan’s chase. He was well supported by Yash Thakur (2/48) , while Anshul Kamboj , Anukul Roy , Suryansh Shedge and others chipped in with key breakthroughs.

Afghanistan’s top order collapsed early with wickets of Hassan Eisakhil , Khalid Taniwal and skipper Imran Mir , leaving them under constant pressure throughout the chase.

With this victory, India A secured two crucial points , taking their tally to four and confirming their qualification for the tri-series final , despite having lost their previous two matches.