West Indies A 193-8 (Jonthan Carter 39, Kirk Edward 33, Ashok Dinda 3-45) beat India A 190 all out (Ajinkya Rahane 58, Shikhar Dhawan 30, Veerasammy Permaul 4-33) by 2 wickets.

An all round performance by the skipper Veerasamy Permaul, led West Indies A to an exciting victory vs. India A in the inaugural ODI played at Grenada.

India A were bowled out for 190 runs in the allotted 50 overs and West Indies A achieved the target by smashing 193 runs with two wickets in hand and three balls to spare.

Veerasammy Permaul (West Indies A) was declared ‘Player of the match’ for his all round performance in the absorbing encounter.

The first One Day International was held at National Cricket Stadium,St George’s, Grenada, on Wednesday, June 27, 2012.

Earlier, the captain of India A, Cheteshwar Pujara, won the toss and preferred to bat with an effort to set a reasonable score on board that can be defended by his bowling armoury. The innings was opened by the reliable Shikhar Dhawan and Ajinkya Rahane and both negotiated the new cherry with great professional skill while adding useful runs. They utilized all scoring chances and kept the score board moving at a reasonable pace and Dhawan was the most aggressive of the two.

The openers provided a solid stand of 49 runs when Dhawan was gone after scoring 30 runs. Rahane kept on accumulating the runs with a little assistance from the other end as the middle order batsmen were unable to show any consistency. Ajinkya Rahane batted well and lost his wicket after thrashing 58 runs and reminded his form he exhibited earlier in the IPL 2012.

Manoj Tiway and Jalaj Saxena provided some resistance by scoring 26 and 22 runs respectively as the lower and middle order batting scrambled. Five of their batsmen were unsuccessful touching the double figures and the innings of India A was folded back for 190 runs in an exact 50 overs.

Veerasammy Permaul was the main destructor by grabbing four wickets, Jason Holder and Jonathan Carter shared two wickets each and Nikita Miller held one.

West Indies A initiated the innings with the experienced Adrian Barath and Kieran Powell as the pace duo of India A, Ashok Dinda and Bhuvneshwar Kumar used the new ball excellently. They bowled according to the line and length with a sheer pace and the batsmen found it hard to score the runs freely. The first wicket association produced 26 runs as Barath went back to the pavilion after scoring hard earned five runs.

Kirk Edwards joined in next with Powell and they tried to stabilise the innings but could add 16 runs when Kieran Powell lost his wicket for 25 runs. Edwards managed 33, Nkrumah Bonner scored 14 runs and the home team was in a difficult situation at 4-98 runs.

Jonathan Carter and Assad Fudadin put their heads down and consolidated the innings with determination. They established the innings and kept on enhancing the score as the skipper of India A, Cheteshwar Pujara used six bowlers to dislodge the partnership. The fifth wicket partnership assembled 54 valuable runs when the rival bowlers took over and the wickets started falling one after another.

Carter lost his wicket for 39 and Fudadin surrendered after scoring 26 runs and the home side was reelimg at 8-158 and the visitors were in sight of victory. Veerasammy Permaul became a shield for the West Indies A and Nikita Miller supported him well from the other end. They played calculated innings and marched towards the target and Permaul demonstrated a real courageous unbeaten knock of unbeaten 22 which included one six and one four.

The target was attained by plundering 193 runs for the loss of eight wickets as Miller was still at the crease with 12 runs.

Ashok Dinda was the most successful wicket taker with three, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Rohit Sharma claimed two wickets each whereas Rahul Sharma held one wicket.

West Indies A won the thrilling match by two wickets and are leading the three ODI series 1-0 as the second match will be played on June 29, 2012, at the same venue.