An abject lower-order collapse by Australia A handed India A the quadrangular series, as Manish Pandey's men won the final by 57 runs in Mackay on Sunday. Like the senior team, it was spin that was Australia A's nemesis again. The Indian slower bowlers contributed a whopping eight scalps. Opting to bat first, Mandeep Singh (95) and Pandey (61) took India A to 266/4. Yuzvendra Chahal (4/34) then starred with the ball as Australia were bowled out for 209.
Despite losing Karun Nair in the second over of the game, Singh, along with an uncharacteristically cautious Shreyas Iyer (41 from 61 balls) led India A's fightback with an 81-run stand. In the context of the game, Singh was aggressive with his shot-making and brought up boundaries at regular intervals. Pandey was happy to rotate the strike.
Australia A's top-order batsmen, like India A's, were solid and kept their team in the hunt through useful contributions from Cameron Bancroft (34 from 54), Nic Maddinson (31 from 54) and skipper Peter Handscomb (43 from 55). Chahal, Axar Patel and Nair kept picking up wickets and the tail folded meekly, after the Australians loaded their side with a bowler-heavy combination.
Brief scores:
India A 266/4 in 50 overs (Mandeep Singh 95, Manish Pandey 61, Chris Tremain 1/42) beat Australia A 209 in 44.5 overs (Peter Handscomb 43, Yuzvendra Chahal 4/34) by 57 runs.
