India A batter Rutura Gaikwad brought up his 21st List A century in the clash against Sri Lanka A on Tuesday. The Men in Blue, under the captaincy of Tilak Varma, and a squad consisting of new and fresh faces, is traveling to the island nation for the Tri Nation A Series. After opting to bat first, the Indian side lost two openers quickly after Prabhsimran Singh was forced to walk back on two runs while Vaibhav Sooryavanshi could manage to post only 14 runs in 12 deliveries.

Priyansh Arya, along with Ruturaj Gaikwad, tried to give the side some stability but got involved in a bizarre run out, leading to dismissal at 32 runs. However, Gaikwad maintained his stand on the crease and came up with a crucial century. The Indian batter utilized 112 deliveries to record his 21st List A century, and reached the milestone on the first delivery of the 44th over. Gaikwad got a standing ovation from his teammates while Varma, standing on the non-strike, congratulated him for the same.

India set 278-run target against Sri Lanka A with the loss of six wickets

The Indian side posted a competitive total of 277 runs against Sri Lanka A in the first match of the series. While the openers, including Prabhsimran Singh and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi couldn’t do much with the bat, the middle-order pushed and came up with commendable knocks to help the Indian side push beyond the 250-run mark. Arya posted 32 runs, whereas Gaiwkad came up with a brilliant 101-run knock in 114 deliveries.

Skipper Tilak Varma added 60 runs to the scoreboard on 97 deliveries while Ayush Badoni, Suryansh Shedge and Anukul Roy added 24, 26, and 1* run, respectively. On Sri Lanka’s side, Chamika Karunaratne, Garuka Sanketh, and Wanuja Sahan picked one wicket each, while Mohamed Shiraz dismissed two wickets.