Rajvardhan Hangargekar's Five-Wicket Haul Knocks Down Pakistan For 205

Hangargekar broke Pakistan's batting back (Twitter)

A dominating day with the ball helped India A to restrict Pakistan A to a below-average 205-run total in Match 12 of the ongoing fifth edition of the ACC Men’s Emerging Asia Cup in Colombo. Rajvardhan Hangargekar was the pick of bowlers for the Boys in Blue, taking a magnificent five-wicket haul.

Hangargekar flourished with the new ball

Electing to bat first, Pakistan A got off to a poor start. India struck two early wickets as Hangargekar drew the first blood and removed opener Saim Ayub for an 11-ball duck. He further went on to remove Omair Yousuf, again for a duck and Pakistan A were two down with only 9 on the board.

Sahibzada Farhan tried to change the momentum and hit Hangargekar for three boundaries in an over. He continued the flow of runs after the powerplay and was looking in good touch. However, he could not carry the momentum and gave his wicket off the bowling of Riyan Parag. 

Manav Suthar got three quick wickets and the youngsters in green were six down with 95 on the board at the end of 27 overs. Pakistan A were in all sorts of trouble and Qasim Akram stitched partnerships with Mubasir Khan and Mehran Mumtaz to save their side from embarrassment.

Rajvardhan's comeback assault to wrap PAK-A

Eventually, Hangargekar came back into the attack in the death overs and wrapped things up pretty quickly. He first removed Akram for a well made 48 and Pakistan A went on to get bowled out for 205.

Hangargekar finished with a figure of 5/42 in eight overs while left-arm spinner Manav Suthar scalped three wickes in his ten overs. Riyan Parag and Nishant Sindhu also grabbed a wicket each.

At the time of writing this, India A openers Sai Sudharsan and Abhishek Sharma have got off to a flying start as Yash Dhull and co eyes third win in the group stage going forward to the knockouts.