Mumbai, Sep 19: India A beat New Zealand A by three wickets at the Bert Sutcliffe Oval in Lincoln to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match one-day series.

Opting to field first, the Abhinav Mukund-led side, bowled out the opposition for 176 in 48.2 overs. Left-arm pacer, Jaydev Unadkat, set the ball rolling with the wicket of opener Hamish Rutherford early in the innings. Picking wickets at regular intervals, the trio of Unadkat, Bhuvneshvar Kumar and Rahul Sharma left the home team reeling at six for 54.

However, NZ A wicketkeeper DC de Boorder and skipper Andrew Ellis then came together to stem the fall of wickets and revived the innings with an 80-run stand. Their partnership ended with Unmukt Chand running out the hosts’ captain for 45. 36 runs later, Unadkat struck again to claim his fourth scalp. The pacer dismissed de Boorder for 62. Ashok Menaria then followed up with the wicket of Mitchell McClenaghan to wrap up the NZ A innings.

Chasing a modest total, Abhinav Mukund and Chand got India off to a good start with a 52-run opening stand, before the former was sent back by McClenaghan. A while later, Chand was bowled by Ellis for 32 and he was soon followed back to the pavilion by Naman Ojha and Ashok Menaria. Ojha added just six to the total, while Menaria was dismissed for four. Meanwhile, Mandeep Singh, held up one end, until he was run-out for 34 off 66 balls. After Mandeep's departure, Ambati Rayudu anchored the innings and brought India home. He was ably supported by Sharma who brought India within reach of the target with a 33-ball 31-run knock. Rayudu remained unbeaten on 26, while Bhuvneshwar Kumar was not out on six as India A surpassed the NZ A total with 16 balls to spare.

Brief scores: NZ A 176 all out in 48.2 overs (DC de Boorder 62, AM Ellis 45, J Unadkat 4/44, R Sharma 2/32, B Kumar, 2/39) lost to India A 180/7 in 47.2 overs (Mandeep Singh 34, U Chand 32, R Sharma 31, MJ McClenaghan 3/42) by 3 wickets