Pitch: 7B - Low bounce
Weather: 3 - Hot and sunny
Toss: West Indies A
West Indies A won the toss, and with low bounce predicted to give occasional assistance to the bowlers, elected to bowl first.
Gray took a couple of early wickets, but another classy innings from the in form Gursharan Singh put India A on top.
The ex Test batsman made 57 off 36 balls to set India A on course for another big total.
With V.V.S.Laxman carrying his bat for a subdued 42* not out of 47, but playing the valuable of rotating the strike, and Dravid making 35 off 19, India A totalled 151/4 off 20 overs.
Gray bowled well to take 3-16, but the other bowlers, selected more for batting ability, were disappointing.
Given that West Indies A's highest score in a T20 match on tour so far was well short of this, they appeared to have done enough.
When West Indies slipped to 88/7, despite some good batting by Arthurton and Chanderpaul, and West Indies A requiring 64 to win off 5.3 overs, the game appeared over.
A.R.Kapoor had justified his inclusion ahead of the more experienced Gopal Sharma at this point with 3 wickets, and for India A it appeared business as usual.
But West Indies had included both Drakes and Gibson in their XI for this game for their hitting ability ahead of other bowlers, and the pair did not disappoint.
Taking 31 off the next 2.3 overs, West Indies A sensed they had a chance going into the last 3 overs with 32 required.
When Venkataramana conceded 6 off the 18th over, to leave 27 required for victory of 2 overs the task seemed impossible.
But Gibson and Drakes took 16 off 19th over by Prasad, seamer Chetan Sharma began the last over with West Indies A requiring 11 for a remarkable victory.
Gibson kept them on course with a Big Hit for 4 off the 4th ball, leaving 3 required for victory off 2 balls.
Sharma bowled a dot ball, leaving Gibson needing 3 off the last ball for the win, or 2 for a tie.
At this point Chetan Sharma's nerve failed him, much as it had v Javed Miandad in the 1986 Asia Cup final, and he bowled a wide, leaving 2 required from 1 and all 3 results still possible.
With 2 required for the win, Chetan Sharma delivered a good length ball, normally hard to score off, but Gibson once again pulled off a Big Hit, sending the final ball sailing for a huge 6 and giving West Indies A a remarkable comeback victory.
It was West Indies A's first win of the tour, and though they had lost the series 2-1, it was extremely important for team morale and warmly celebrated by the players.
Gibson was named Man of the Match for his remarkable unbeaten 46* off 24 balls, including 3 huge sixes, the final of which won his team the match.
Drakes scored 23* off 15 at the other end as the pair added a scarcely believable 68 off 5.3 overs to steal victory by 3 wickets.
West Indies won by 3 wickets
Man of the Match: O.D.Gibson
India A 1st Innings 151/4 Closed (Overs 20)
| Batsman | Fieldsman | Bowler | Runs | Min | Bls | 4s | 6s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A Jadeja | c RD Jacobs | b AH Gray | 6 | 5 | 6 | 1 | 0 |
| VVS Laxman | not out | 42 | 96 | 47 | 7 | 0 | |
| SC Ganguly* | c RIC Holder | b AH Gray | 10 | 26 | 13 | 2 | 0 |
| Gursharan Singh | c S Chanderpaul | b AH Gray | 57 | 39 | 36 | 8 | 1 |
| RS Dravid | c PC Wallace | b AC Cummins | 35 | 20 | 19 | 8 | 0 |
| NR Mongia+ | dnb | ||||||
| AR Kapoor | dnb | ||||||
| SB Joshi | dnb | ||||||
| Chetan Sharma | dnb | ||||||
| M Venkataramana | dnb | ||||||
| BKV Prasad | dnb | ||||||
| extras | (b0 lb0 w0 nb1) | 1 | |||||
| TOTAL | 4 wickets for | 151 |
| FOW |
|---|
| 1-6(A Jadeja) 2-34(SC Ganguly) 3-107(Gursharan Singh) 4-151(RS Dravid) |
| Bowler | Overs | Maid | Runs | Wkts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AH Gray | 4 | 0 | 16 | 3 |
| V Drakes | 4 | 0 | 29 | 0 |
| OD Gibson | 4 | 0 | 32 | 0 |
| AC Cummins | 4 | 0 | 31 | 1 |
| KLT Arthurton | 2 | 0 | 18 | 0 |
| S Chanderpaul | 2 | 0 | 25 | 0 |
West Indies A 1st Innings 156/7 Closed (Overs 20)
| Batsman | Fieldsman | Bowler | Runs | Min | Bls | 4s | 6s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PC Wallace | c Gursharan Singh | b Chetan Sharma | 8 | 4 | 6 | 2 | 0 |
| S Ragoonath | c NR Mongia | b BKV Prasad | 2 | 15 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| RIC Holder* | c VVS Laxman | b Chetan Sharma | 18 | 18 | 13 | 3 | 1 |
| KLT Arthurton | c VVS Laxman | b AR Kapoor | 30 | 37 | 31 | 3 | 2 |
| FL Reifer | c Chetan Sharma | b SC Ganguly | 0 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| S Chanderpaul | c RS Dravid | b AR Kapoor | 26 | 32 | 23 | 3 | 0 |
| RD Jacobs+ | b AR Kapoor | 0 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | |
| V Drakes | not out | 23 | 26 | 15 | 2 | 1 | |
| OD Gibson | not out | 46 | 20 | 24 | 6 | 3 | |
| AC Cummins | dnb | ||||||
| AH Gray | dnb | ||||||
| extras | (b0 lb0 w1 nb2) | 3 | |||||
| TOTAL | 7 wickets for | 156 |
| FOW |
|---|
| 1-8(PC Wallace) 2-18(S Ragoonath) 3-38(RIC Holder) 4-40(FL Reifer) |
| 5-81(KLT Arthurton) 6-81(RD Jacobs) 7-88(S Chanderpaul) |
| Bowler | Overs | Maid | Runs | Wkts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chetan Sharma | 4 | 0 | 41 | 2 |
| BKV Prasad | 4 | 0 | 29 | 1 |
| SC Ganguly | 3 | 0 | 24 | 1 |
| M Venkataramana | 3 | 0 | 18 | 0 |
| SB Joshi | 2 | 0 | 17 | 0 |
| AR Kapoor | 4 | 1 | 27 | 3 |
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