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New Delhi: Ruturaj Gaikwad’s brilliant ton and a combined effort from the bowlers helped India A beat Sri Lanka A by 8 runs in their opening game of the tri-series at the Dambulla International Stadium in Dambulla on Tuesday. Gaikwad slammed a sublime 101-run knock to help India A post a fighting total of 277 runs before the bowlers produced an excellent show to bundle out the hosts for 269 runs.

In pursuit of the 278-run target, Sri Lanka appeared in cruise control at one stage in the run chase with skipper Sahan Arachchige going strong in the middle. However, the India A bowlers made a strong comeback in the death overs to pull things back in style. Arachchige’s 74-run knock went in vain as Sri Lanka A fell short in the run chase.

Sri Lanka A were off to a strong start in the run chase courtesy of their openers Niroshan Dickwella (47) and Avishka Fernando (45), who added a 93-run stand for the first wicket. Part-time spinner Ayush Badoni drew the first blood for India A in the 17th over by dismissing Fernando before dismissing Dickwell in his next over to bring India A back into the contest.

Spinner Vipraj Nigam removed no.3 Nuwanidu Fernando cheaply on 8 before Sadeera Samarawickrama (46) added 78 runs for the 4th wicket with Arachchige. Their partnership was broken by Anukul Roy and proved to be a turning point in the game as the India A bowlers kept picking wickets at regular intervals to eventually bundle out the hosts for 269 runs in 48.5 overs.

Badoni, Vipraj, Anukul Roy and Arshad Khan picked up two wickets apiece while Anshul Kamboj bagged the important wicket of Arachchige in the 48th over.