India A vs West Indies A: Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir fail as 2nd unofficial Test ends in tame draw

Opener Kraigg Brathwaite smashed a brilliant century while Narasingh Deonaraine cracked a flamboyant 93 as the second unofficial Test between India 'A' and West Indies 'A' ended in a tame draw here on Saturday.

In reply to West Indies A's 406 in the first innings, India A were all out for 359, conceding a slender 47-run lead to the visitors.

With a result out of question, West Indies A reached 223 for three in 81 overs in their second innings when the umpires decided to call off the match due to bad light around 3.30 pm.

For the West Indies A, Brathwaite top-scored with 104 not out, while Deonaraine delighted the crowd with some aggressive shots during his 93-run innings before he was trapped leg before by Baroda lad Bharghav Bhatt.

Brathwaite, riding high on his two fifties in the series, played a Shivnaraine Chanderpaul-style game, grinding the ball and attacking those landing in the hitting zone.

The left-handed Guyanese batsman did not get much support from Kieran Powell and captain Kirk Edwards as the visitors were in a hole at 43 for two.

It was Deonaraine, who joined Brathwaite at this stage to script a 144-run partnership for third wicket.

While Brathwaite hit 15 boundaries in his 247-ball knock, Deonaraine faced 142 balls, hitting 13 fours and two sixes.

For the hosts, Bhatt bowled superbly to take two for 104 in 27.1 overs, while India discard Zaheer Khan grabbed one in the second innings to make it two wickets in the match. Bhatt, who had claimed seven wickets in West Indies A first innings, packed off Deonaraine and Edwards leg before for 93 and 2, respectively.

Zaheer bagged the wicket of out-of-form Powell for 14 when he was caught by Uday Kaul behind the stumps.

Zaheer bowled two spells but could not make any impression on a slow pitch. In the first spell he bowled five overs and got one wicket for 10 runs. In the second, he bowled three overs for 11 runs.

Resuming at an overnight total of 28 for no loss, the West Indians began the day disastrously losing two quick wickets.

The Indian bowlers utilised the morning conditions well to remove the overnight batsmen with some tidy bowling.

Edwards and Powell, both of whom have been picked in the West Indies national side for the challenging India series next month, would have been eager to get some match practice but failed to achieve that.

Brief Scores: West Indies A 406 and 223/3 in 81 overs (Kraigg Brathwaite 104*, Narsingh Deonarine 93; Zaheer Khan 1/27) vs India A 359.