English
Young opener Vaibhav Suryavanshi played a sensational innings, scoring a joint second-fastest T20 hundred by an Indian, helping India A crush the United Arab Emirates by 148 runs in the Asia Cup Rising Stars on Friday.
Suryavanshi made 144 runs off just 42 balls, hitting 11 fours and 15 sixes, while captain Jitesh Sharma added a quick 83 off 32 balls, taking India to a huge total of 297 for 4 in 20 overs.
UAE never looked like chasing the target and finished at 149 for 7, with India’s left-arm pacer Gurjapneet Singh taking 3 wickets for 18 runs. The only resistance came from UAE’s Shoaib Khan, who scored 63 off 41 balls.
Suryavanshi was the star of the show, reaching his century in only 32 balls, equalling Rishabh Pant’s record from 2018. He completed his hundred with a neat four off pacer Muhammad Arfan in the 10th over.
He shared a steady partnership with Naman Dhir (34), and the pair added 168 runs in just over 10 overs, scoring at more than 16 runs per over. However, Suryavanshi could not beat the fastest Indian T20 hundreds by Abhishek Sharma and Urvil Patel, who scored theirs in 28 balls.
Suryavanshi attacked consistently throughout his innings. UAE spinner Harshit Kaushik suffered, conceding 30 runs in one over with four sixes and a four. At that stage, Suryavanshi had a strike rate of 348. He was eventually dismissed by off-spinner Mohammed Farazuddin, caught by Ahmed Tariq in the deep. India were then 195 for 3 in 12.3 overs.
His wicket slowed the scoring briefly, but Jitesh Sharma quickly accelerated, reaching his fifty in 24 balls with a six off Arfan, and then hitting 28 runs in the 19th over with a combination of sixes and fours.
Chasing a massive 298, UAE never had a chance, and their only goal was to reduce the defeat margin. Even that was difficult against India’s strong bowling attack, which featured experienced first-class players.
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