India A has reached the semi-finals of the ACC Men’s T20 Emerging Teams Asia Cup 2024. In their last group stage game, they defeated Oman by 6 wickets.
India A is the only unbeaten side in the tournament after the group stages. They defeated Pakistan A by 7 runs in their first game, then UAE by 7 wickets. They have been in excellent form as a team with bowlers and batters doing a great job for the side.
Abhishek Sharma (127 runs) and skipper Tilak Varma (101 runs) have done well with the bat till now. Rasikh Salam (6 wickets) has been the best bowler for India A. Anshul Kamboj has picked up 4 wickets. Nishant Sindhu and Ramandeep Singh have picked up 3 wickets each.
Ayush Badoni starred for India A against Oman
Oman won the toss and opted to bat at the Al Amerat Cricket Ground (Ministry Turf 1). They were shocked by three dismissals in the power play itself. Aamir Kaleem, Jatinder Singh and Karan Sonavale were dismissed by the 5th over.
Oman was 33/3 after 4.2 overs when Wasim Ali (24 runs) and Mohammad Nadeem (41 runs) stitched a 47-partnership. Wasim was dismissed in the 15th over by R Sai Kishore. Wicket-keeper Hammad Mirza (28* runs) played a quickfire knock to help the side post a total of 140 runs. Both Wasim Ali and Mohammad Nadeem played a strike rate of less than 100 which was why Oman posted a sub-par total.
Aaqib Khan, Rasikh Salam, Nishant Sindhu, Ramandeep Singh and R Sai Kishore picked up one wicket each for India A. India A used 8 bowlers which shows the insane depth in their squad.
India A then lost Anuj Rawat cheaply for just 8 runs. Abhishek Sharma (34 runs) started well and played his shots before getting dismissed. With both openers dismissed by the 5th over it was skipper Tilak Varma (36* runs) and Ayush Badoni (51 runs) scored 85 runs between them to seal the deal for their side. Badoni scored a brilliant half-century and was dismissed in the 14th over with 13 runs needed.
Nehal Wadhera was dismissed for just 1 run. Ramandeep Singh came and hit a couple of sixes with 10 runs needed. Jay Odedra, Sufyan Mehmood and Aamir Kaleem picked up 1 wicket each for Oman.
India A will now face Afghanistan A in the second-semi final on 25th October. Pakistan A will be against Sri Lanka A in the first semi-final. The final will be played on 27th October 2024.
