Sooryavanshi's stunning onslaught powers India A to tri-series triumph

After a rather subdued series by his already lofty standards, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi lit up the final of the tri-nation 'A' series, headlining India A's triumph over Sri Lanka A by 66 runs in Dambulla on Sunday (June 21).

India A were asked to bat first and Sooryavanshi took off in sixth gear. He smashed the fastest List A half-century, taking just 11 deliveries to get there as he massacred fours and sixes at will. He began with two consecutive fours of Mohamed Shiraz before plundering 26 runs off the third over off the same bowler. He pulled, lofted and dismissed the ball from his presence, taking India A to 50 in just three overs. Dulaj Samuditha also bore the wrath of the 15-year old, who launched a couple of sixes down the ground to raise his half-century.

Such was the carnage on display that his first 54 runs all came in fours and sixes, but a tough chance was put down by the mid-on fielder tracing after a skier. Sooryavanshi received another reprieve soon after and he made Sri Lanka A pay. India A raced to 100 in the 7th over and Sooryavanshi's pyrotechnics meant that Priyansh Arya's rapid start slipped under the radar.

Sooryavanshi continued to pile up the big hits, including a delightful extra cover loft off Kugathas Mathulan. He was on track to equal Jake Fraser-McGurk's record for the fastest List A hundred but ended up spooning a catch to mid-off, bringing his innings to a close on 94 off 29 with 11 fours and 8 sixes. When he fell in the 9th over, India A's score already read 132.

Sanity was restored to the innings once Arya too fell shortly. Ruturaj Gaikwad and captain Tilak Varma went about their work steadily, although Gaikwad got into a shell and was on 10 off 24 at one stage until he broke the shackles with a six. The duo shared an 84-run partnership that put India A on course for a huge total despite the slowdown, before Gaikwad was bowled around his legs for 40. Tilak brought up his fourth fifty of the series, getting there off 70 balls, but he once again failed to accelerate and convert it into a big one as he perished at the start of the 40th over. Amidst this was an enterprising 36 from Kumar Kushagra, who kept things fairly busy at one end.

Suryansh Shedge fell cheaply as India A ended up losing three wickets in as many overs, forcing another brief slowdown although Vipraj Nigam found the boundaries regularly shortly after. Nishant Sindhu couldn't score much, but Anukul Roy's arrival with 20 deliveries to go flipped the game India A's way for good. He smashed Samuditha for a four and a six and then tore into Mathulan in a 24-run final over slamming three sixes, with the bowler evidently under pressure having lost his radar and speared as many as four wides. Anukul was dismissed LBW off the last ball, but his 15-ball 39 took India A to a whopping 377.

Sri Lanka A got off to a quick start courtesy Niroshan Dickwella, but the in-form Avishka Fernando fell cheaply for just three, as Yash Thakur got on the board. Thakur would snare the next two wickets to fall as well, bowling Dickwella for 25 and having Nuwanidu Fernando caught at long leg for 21. Nuwanidu forged a breezy 42-run stand with Sadeera Samarawickrama, who took a liking to the extra pace of Ashok Sharma in particular. Samarawickrama was later dropped by Vipraj at mid-wicket and he cashed in with a four and a six off Shedge, before milking Sindhu for a few boundaries. He raised a 41-ball half-century, keeping Sri Lanka A in the hunt but Ashok had him nicking behind shortly after.

Ravindu Fernando too started with a string of boundaries, but he chipped one to Tilak at cover. Skipper Sahan Arachchige's dismissal proved to be the writing on the wall, even as Wanuja Sahan (62 off 69) did not go down without a fight, combining forces with Vijayakanth Viyaskanth (39 off 34) for a partnership of 77 runs. As much as the runs came at a decent clip, it did not suffice in the face of a consistently mounting asking rate. Anukul broke the stand, inducing a leading edge off Viyaskanth's bat and while Sahan reached his half-century, Sri Lanka A still needed 103 off the last ten overs.

In the bid for the big shot, Sahan misexecuted a reverse-sweep to hand Tilak a catch at backward point as Vipraj picked up his second wicket. Anukul extracted sharp turn and finished with a second wicket himself, inducing a false shot off Samuditha shortly after the latter struck two sixes off Vipraj to take the hosts past the 300 mark. But the leggie would have the final say in proceedings, ending Shiraz's resistance to hand India A the series win.

Brief Scores: India A 377/9 in 50 overs (Vaibhav Sooryavanshi 94, Tilak Varma 67, Anukul Roy 39; Wanuja Sahan 2-39) beat Sri Lanka A 311 in 47.1 overs (Wanuja Sahan 62, Sadeera Samarawickrama 52; Yash Thakur 3-45, Vipraj Nigam 3-60, Anukul Roy 2-42) by 66 runs