India A beat Australia A by 57 runs in the final in Mackay to win the quadrangular one-day series in Australia. Propelled by Mandeep Singh’s 95, the visitors set the hosts a 267-run target after electing to bat in the final. Complemented by rest of the attack, Yuzvendra Chahal then claimed four wickets while Dhawal Kulkarni picked two to bowl the team to a thumping victory.
Coming into the final, India A had lost to Australia A in both the league matches between the team. However, the Manish Pandey-led team put forth a superb performance to pull off a comprehensive win in the grand finale.
The visiting side suffered an early blow as Daniel Worrall claimed Karun Nair in the second over with just two runs on the board. But, Shreyas Iyer joined forces with Mandeep to lay a solid foundation. The pair had put together 81 runs for the second wicket at a steady pace until the No 3 bat handed a catch to the wicketkeeper off Marcus Stoinis to depart nine runs short of his half-century.
Mandeep then carried the innings forward with captain and in-form batsman Pandey in an effort to set the opposition a competitive target. The duo ran hard between the wickets and picked the occasional boundary to keep the scoreboard ticking until Joe Mennie sent the opener back to the pavilion with the team on 170 for three. Pandey and Jadhav then added 69 runs at a quick pace before the skipper returned to dressing room for 61.
Promoted up the order with a little over three overs left in the innings, Axar Patel fired 22 off 17 balls to take the team to 266 for four with Kedar Jadhav. The all-rounder slammed Kane Richardson for six over the long-off region as he set out to add quick runs to the total.
With a competitive total to defend, Dhawal Kulkarni gave India A their first breakthrough with the wicket of Kurtis Patterson in the seventh over. Cameron Bancroft then found an able partner in Nic Maddinson, however the budding partnership was ended by part-timer Nair. The spinner disrupted the opener’s woodwork to leave the opposition on 82 for two.
Both teams were going neck-and-neck when Peter Handscomb joined Maddinson in the middle. Although, Nair sent back the No 3 bat nine runs later, the match was kept hanging in balance by the Australia A captain and Alex Ross. The pair stitched a 77-run stand as they looked to close in on the target. Kulkarni accounted for Ross to end the blossoming stand and leave the home team on 183 for five in the 39th over.
With the match precariously poised, Pandey brought Chahal back into the attack and the spinner claimed Stoinis and Richardson in the same over to push Australia A on the backfoot. In his next over he followed up with the wicket of Tremain, while Axar sent back Mennie to bring India A within sniffing distance of a victory. The leg-spinner then wrapped-up the game with the wicket of Cameron Boyce.
Brief scores: India A 266/4 in 50 overs (M Singh 95, M Pandey 61, S Iyer 41, M Stoinis 1/30, J Mennie 1/37) beat Australia A 209/10 in 44.5 overs (P Handscomb 43, Y Chahal 4/34, D Kulkarni 2/22, K Nair 2/29, A Patel 2/33) by 57 runs
