Published: Aug 08, 2019, 09:01 AM (IST)
Edited: Aug 08, 2019, 09:01 AM (IST)
India A eked out a slender lead over West Indies A at the end of day two of the final unofficial Test match at the Brian Lara Stadium at Tarouba, Trinidad after K Gowtham took a hat-trick during his six-wicket haul.
At stumps on Wednesday, India A led by 30 runs with seven wickets remaining.
When play had resumed, West Indies A were 23/1 after bowling out the visiting team for 201 on day one. Umesh Yadav struck two early blows to see West Indies A slip to 36/3, before a stand of 66 between Sunil Ambris (43) and Jeremy Solozano steadied the innings.
(READ: India A beat West Indies A by 7 wickets to clinch unofficial Test series)
But once Shivam Dube won an lbw shout against Ambris, another wobble ensued. Triggering it was Gowtham with his offbreaks, as Jermaine Blackwood (22), skipper Jahmar Hamilton (9), Raymon Reifer (5), Chemar Holder (0) and Miguel Cummins (0) were dismissed in a collapse of six wickets for 60 runs.
Gowtham’s hat-trick came in what proved the last over of West Indies A’s innings: Reifer and Holder were bowled and Cummins trapped lbw. Solozano was left not out on 69 from 208 balls, having carried his bat.
It is the first hat-trick for Gowtham in first-class cricket. He finished with figures of 6/67 from 23.4 overs.
(READ: Duleep Trophy 2019: Shubman Gill, Faiz Fazal and Priyank Panchal to lead)
Gowtham’s six wickets bowled out West Indies A for 194 to give India A a lead of seven runs, which by stumps had increased to 30 but for the loss of three quick wickets.
Fast bowler Holder took out the India A openers Priyank Panchal (3) and Abhimanyu Easwaran (6) lbw inside six overs, and when Cummins bowled Mayank Agarwal for 5 the score was 14/3. Shahbaz Nadeem (5*) and Shubman Gill (2*) are batting overnight.
India A lead the three-match series 2-0.
Brief scores: India A 201 and 23/3 lead West Indies A 194 (Solozano 69, Gowtham 6/67) by 30 runs.
