Pandey, Gill star as India B beats Australia A

India ‘B’ put up an all-round show to down the Australians, who were filled with regular Australia senior team players. While Mayank Agarwal, Shubman Gill and Pandey starred with the bat, Siddarth Kaul, Prasidh Krishna and Shreyas Gopal bowled brilliantly to bowl out a fairly experienced Australian side for a paltry total of 225 from 47.5 overs.

Pandey won the toss and elected to bowl first and his decision was vindicated when the bowlers reduced the Aussies to 56/2 from 9.4 overs. D’Arcy Short however, stood firm and looked to play a long innings but was not receiving enough support from the other end.

The Rajasthan Royals player ultimately fell for a 77-ball 72 with Australia’s score on 148/4 from 28.2 overs. Alex Carey and Ashton Agar then steadied the ship and put on a 44-run stand for the fifth wicket but Deepak Hooda removed Agar for a 32-ball 20 to reduce Australia to 192/5 from 38.3 overs. Carey fell soon after while trying to up the ante for a well-made 53 and Australia failed to kick on from there and was wrapped up for 225.

Gopal grabbed three wickets while Kaul, Krishna and Hooda all took two wickets apiece and Jalaj Saxena got a single wicket.

Chasing 226 to win, India B was off to a bad start as it lost Ishan Kishan early due to an injury but the incoming Gill and Agarwal steadied India and piled on the runs at a steady pace. Agarwal continued his fantastic form and was looking all set to score another ton but he fell for 69 off 67 balls when Agar clean bowled him.

With India’s score at 110/1 from 20.2 overs, Pandey walked in to bat and since then, the struggle for the Australian bowlers began. Gill played the anchor’s knock while Pandey attacked the bowlers and took India’s score for 200 in the 34th over to help India cruise towards a victory.

The pair ultimately took the team past the line in the 37th over with Gill being not out on 66 and Pandey unbeaten on 73.

In the third-fourth place play-off, Shreyas Iyer’s India ‘A’ hammered South Africa ‘A’ by 124 runs to finish third in the tournament.

Batting first, India ‘A’ scored 275/7 from its 50 overs riding on fifties from Iyer and Ambati Rayudu. Beuran Hendricks starred with the ball for Proteas, picking up 3/39 from 10 overs.