Miller takes 9 as West Indies A win big

Sep 29, 2013 Sports

Mysore, India – Nikita Miller took five wickets and Veerasammy Permaul added three as West Indies A beat India A by 162 runs in the first unofficial Test, taking a 1-0 lead in the three-match series yesterday.

West Indies A players congratulate Nikita Miller (2nd left) on his match winning 9 wicket haul in India. (BCCI)

Needing 314 runs to win the match after West Indies declared at their overnight second innings score of 130 for three, India were bundled out for 152 by first innings chief wreckers Miller 5-40 and Permaul 3-56 at the Gangothri Glades Cricket Grounds.
Manpreet Juneja’s resolute knock went in vain as India A succumbed to a humiliating 162. The hosts were earlier dismissed for 245 in the first innings, giving West Indies a lead of 184 runs. The Indian top-order failed miserably with Manpreet being an exception with his 193-ball 70 after a first-innings effort of 84.
In the second innings, India lost half the side with a mere 90 runs on the board. Captain Cheteshwar Pujara (17) failed for the second time in the match, which proved quite crucial.
Openers Lokesh Rahul (9), Jiwanjyot Singh Chouhan (24) and Pujara (17) were dismissed cheaply but Juneja was the last man out. The lower-order batsmen could not hang on with Juneja and lost their wickets after finding no answer to the mesmerising bowling by West Indies spinners.
For West Indies, the match was set up by captain Kirk Edwards (91), Kraigg Braithwaite (90) and Assad Fadudin (86) with their brilliant half-centuries in the first innings, which helped the team amass 429 all out.
Riding high on such a huge total, West Indies bowlers, especially spinners, exploited the conditions effectively, hardly giving a chance to the Indian batsmen to settle down in both the innings.
Left-arm orthodox spinner Nikita Miller was the pick of the West Indies bowler with figures of nine wickets for 101 runs in the match. Permaul, on the other hand, snapped up three wickets for a match haul of eight in a fine exhibition of spin bowling as he reached the 200 first class wickets mark.
Right-arm off-break bowler Narsingh Deonarine was also handy with two crucial wickets of Rohit Motwani and Harshad Khadiwale.
In contrast, the Indian bowling was a great disappointment as Ashoke Dinda,

Nikita Miller bagged 9 wickets to hand the Windies A a handsome win. (WICB)

Ishwar Pandey and Mohammad Shami did not fire in both the innings. They struggled to purchase wickets despite bowling 73 overs in the first innings for three wickets conceding 224 runs between them. They went wicket-less in the second innings as they failed to stick to a consistent line and length.
The two teams will now travel to Shimoga for the second unofficial Test which begins from October 2.
Scores: West Indies A 429 (Brathwaite 92, Edwards 91, Rasool 5-116) and 130 for 3 dec (Powell 68) beat India A 245 (Juneja 84, Permaul 5-85, Miller 4-61) and 152 (Juneja 70, Miller 5-40) by 162 runs.