India A cruised to a comfortable 75 runs victory over Bangladesh A in the third ODI at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore on Sunday, courtesy a match-winning century from Suresh Raina.
Raina stepped up to the plate just when it was required from the most experienced player in the India A side. India A lost the wicket of Mayank Agarwal early in the day and from there it was Unmukt Chand and Sanju Samson who took control of the things. The two added 85 runs in the third wicket before Chand was cleaned up by Arafat Sunny.
Raina came into bat at no. 4 and much was expected from him in the series-decider game. Raina and Samson made sure that they keep the scoreboard ticking and did not throw their wickets away. Samson scored a brilliant 90-run innings but one would feel he was unlucky not to get to that well deserved ton.
Raina scored a little less than run-a-ball but after the dismissal of Samson he went hammer and tongs. He got to his century in 92 balls. He batted responsibly on the final day of the ODI series and coach Rahul Dravid will be elated with the performance right ahead of the India-South Africa series, which will start from 2 October.
Rishi Dhawan yet again starred with his bat towards the fag end of the India A innings when he scored a brisk innings of 26 runs from just 15 balls. That late burst from him and Raina powered India A to a total of 297 runs for the loss of six wickets.
The Bangladesh A batsmen, as usual, got off to an awful start to their run chase. Sreenath Aravind was outstanding in his opening spell. He bowled six overs and gave away just 14 runs and added two scalps to his name.
Youngster Kuldeep Yadav was impressive as well with his left-arm chinaman bowling. Yadav also picked up two quick wickets. The last match's hero, Nasir Hossain, could not perform as he was expected too. He did not fare well both with his willow and the ball.
Rain played the spoilsport and stopped the proceedings after 32 overs. Bangladesh A were reeling at 141 for the loss of six wickets. The rain did not stop and the umpires declared India A as the winner by D/L method.
