Chemar Holder, Sherman Lewis Blow Away India A Before Shamarh Brooks Puts West Indies A In Command

Fresh off winning the ODI triangular series, India A came crashing down as they were all out for a paltry 133 against West Indies A on the opening day of the four-day match on Wednesday.

Chemar Holder and Sherman Lewis were the destructors-in-chief. Both took 4 wickets apiece before skipper Shamarh Brooks scored an unbeaten fifty to give his side a 15-run lead and complete control at the end of the day’s play.

When Karun Nair won the toss and decided to bat first, he and the team would have not realised what was coming their way. Even before India A could settle down, they found themselves three down with just 3 runs on the board after 1.1 over. Both Prithvi Shaw and Mayank Agarwal departed after bagging first-ball ducks.  Between the two departures, Ravikumar Samarth too fell for 2.

It was now down to the skipper to begin the rescue work. And Nair started on a good note, scoring a string of boundaries. He was well supported by the in-form Hanuma Vihari. But just as a partnership was blossoming, Raymon Reifer had Nair LBW for 20. It ended the fighting 42-run stand and put India A in more trouble.

Vihari and Vijay Shankar then steadied the ship, taking the score past the 100-run mark.  However, just as India A were finding their feet in the game, Reifer once again put paid to India A’s hopes of a revival with another LBW, this time of Shankar (34).

3 runs later, Vihari departed too after scoring 37. And along with him went India A’s hopes of posting a fighting total. The lower-order could not delay the inevitable for wrong as the team was out for 133..

Unlike the batting, India A made a good start with the ball.  Ankit Rajpoot struck in the first over to remove John Campbell.  Rajpoot then sent back Jermaine Blackwood to leave West Indies A reeling at 28 for 2. However, West Indies A quickly recovered from the early setbacks.

Chandrapaul Hemraj and Brooks steadied the ship by adding 54 runs for the third wicket. Brooks and Sunil Ambris then saw off the day, adding an unbeaten 66 runs.

Brief scores:

India A 133 (Hanuma Vihari 37, Vijay Shankar 34; Sherman Lewis 4-35, Chemar Holder 4-57) trail West Indies A 148/3 (Shamarh Brooks 51*, Chandrapaul Hemraj 42; Anjit Rajpoot 2-32) by 15 runs.