Glimpse of Ayush Badoni's excellent catch© X (Twitter)
India A thrashed the United Arab Emirates (UAE) by seven wickets in their Emerging Teams Asia Cup 2024 match on Monday. Asked to bowl first, the Tilak Varma-led side bundled UAE out for 107 with pacer Rasikh Salam Dar scalping three wickets. Later, India A chased down the target in just 10.5 overs with seven wickets in hand as opener Abhishek Sharma hammered 58 runs off just 24 balls. This was India A's second win in the ongoing tournament and they also entered the semi-finals.
Apart from this low-scoring chase, this match also grabbed everyone's attention with Ayush Badoni's aerial catch. On the last delivery of the 15th over, which was bowled by Ramandeep Singh, UAE batter Jawadullah played a shot into the long-on.
Badoni wasted no time and and just dived towards his right side and grabbed a stunning catch in the air as Jawadullah had to depart for 1.
— AsianCricketCouncil (@ACCMedia1) October 21, 2024
Earlier on Saturday, India A also registered a thrilling seven-run victory against the arch-rivals Pakistan.
Against UAE, seamer Rasikh Salam dismissed three batters in his opening over, reducing them to 40 for 5 inside the power play.
Salam was adjudged the Player of the Match for returning excellent figures of 3/15 with the ball. There were also a couple of strikes from Ramandeep Singh (2/7) as India bundled out UAE with more than three overs remaining in their innings.
While Abhishek hit five fours and four sixes in his blazing knock, skipper Tilak Varma missed out on a big one after making 21 in 18 balls.
India A will now be squaring off against Oman in their last Group Stage match on Wednesday in Al Amerat.
(With PTI Inputs)