Markande's fifer hands India 'A' win

Young leg-spinner Mayank Markande scalped five wickets to steer India 'A' to a series-clinching innings and 68-run win over England Lions in the second and final four-day game, here at the SDNRW stadium on Friday.

Markande (5/31), who first dazzled in the Indian Premier League for Mumbai Indians, spun a web around the visitors to bowl them out for 180 in the second innings on the third day after England had followed following on.

Faced with the daunting task of handling the Indian spinners on a turning wicket, the Lions, resuming from 24 for no loss, performed poorly with the bat with only Ben Duckett (50) and Lewis Gregory (44) showing some fight.

Besides Markande, Jalaj Saxena (2/40) claimed two wickets.

The 21-year old Markande troubled most of the England batsmen with his guile.

The talented Ollie Pope was Markande's first victim, trapped leg-before.

But opener Duckett mixed caution with aggression in an effort to defy the India 'A' bowlers for a while. He hit four boundaries and two sixes in his half-century and was involved in a 40-run partnership with fellow opener Max Holden (7).

Earlier, off-spinner Saxena struck the first blow for the hosts, dismissing Holden leg before wicket. He also dismissed Duckett in the same manner.

Markande, who plays for Punjab in domestic cricket, got a lot of turn from the surface and put the Lions batsmen in deep trouble.

He removed Steve Mullaney, Dominic Bess and Zak Chappell in quick succession as the Lions capitulated.

Running out of partners, Gregory went on the offensive and hit six fours and a six during his 49-ball knock before becoming the last batsman to fall, handing India 'A' victory with a day to spare.

Pace bowlers Varun Aaron (1/39), Navdeep Saini (1/25) and left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem (1/25) picked up a wicket each.

Earlier, the Rahul Dravid-coached India 'A' team had enforced the follow-on after dismissing the visitors for 144 in the first innings in reply to the hosts' 392 all out.

Bengal opening batsman Abhimanyu Easwaran, who slammed 117, was adjudged man of the match.