Manish Pandey played a captain’s knock to guide India A to a one-wicket victory over South Africa A in Pretoria on Thursday, reported PTI. With the win, India have almost assured themselves a spot in the final of the tri-series one-day tournament.
Pandey anchored the chase hitting an unbeaten 93 off 85 balls as India A chased down a tricky target of 267 with two balls to spare. All-rounder Krunal Pandya’s 25 off 15 balls proved to be crucial in the end. This was India A’s third successive win in the tournament. Sanju Samson also chipped in with a knock of 68.
India A were in trouble at 225 for 7 when Yuzvendra Chahal (17) got out after a 43-run stand with Pandey. However, Krunal came in and blasted three fours and a six as the match swung in India A’s favour.
India needed 4 runs off 9 balls when Siddharth Kaul was dismissed. However, Pandey kept his cool and along with Mohammed Siraj, he steered the team to a thrilling win.
Pandey hit five fours and two sixes in his innings and looks like he is all set to make a comeback into the Indian team for the limited overs series in Sri Lanka as he has scored 275 runs in four matches in the ongoing tri-series.
Earlier, put into bat, South Africa A were struggling at 128/6 before wicketkeeper-batsman Heinrich Klaasen (127 off 108 balls) and Willem Mulder (66 off 81 balls) added 111 runs to steer the team to a respectable total. They were bowled out in the 49th over with Shardul Thakur being the pick of the bowlers with figures of 4/35 with medium pacer Siddarth Kaul chipping in with 3/41.
Brief Scores: South Africa A 266 (Heinrich Klaasen 127, Willem Mulder 66, Shardul Thakur 4/35, Siddharth Kaul 3/41) lost to India A 267/9 (Manish Pandey 93 not out, Sanju Samson 68) by 1 wicket.