Sylhet, Dec 9: Left-arm orthodox spinner Saurabh Kumar ran through Bangladesh ‘A’ batting line-up as India ‘A’ clinched the two ‘Test’ series with a commanding innings and 123-run victory in the second and final game here on Friday.
With his performance, Saurabh has staked a strong claim to replace an injured Ravindra Jadeja in the Indian Test squad for the upcoming series against Bangladesh, starting December 14.
Having conceded a mammoth 310-run first innings lead, Bangladesh ‘A’ performed even worse in their second innings, being shot out for a paltry 187 in 79.5 overs.
In the first innings, Bangladesh were a shade better, scoring 252 and India replied with a massive 562, riding on skipper Abhimanyu Easwaran’s superb 157.
Saurabh, who also had a five-wicket haul in the second innings of the drawn first ‘Test’, took 6 for 74 in 30 overs to become one of the architects of the series win.
The Uttar Pradesh spinner also finished with a haul of 15 scalps in two games to emerge as the top wicket-taker in the series.
Bangladesh ‘A’, with seasoned former skipper Mominul Haque in their ranks, were expecting to bat it out for three sessions and eke out a draw.
However, Mominul (6) was smartly snapped up behind stumps by keeper Kona Bharat in the fifth over of the morning and there was no looking back for India ‘A’.
Opener Shadman Islam (93 not out) did fight it out and also had a 54-run fourth wicket stand with Shahadat Hossain (29) but Saurabh broke that stand with Yash Dhull taking a catch. (PTI)
