India A rout South Arica A to clinch tri-series
Shreyas Iyer hit an unbeaten 140 off 131 balls in the final against hosts South Africa A to help India A win the tri-series by seven wickets in Pretoria. After South Africa A posted 267/8, Iyer anchored the chase, hitting 11 boundaries and four sixes as India A chased down the total in 46.5 overs.
Brief scores: South Africa A 267/7 in 50 overs (Farhaan Behardien 101*, Dwaine Pretorius 58; Shardul Thakur 3-52, Siddarth Kaul 2-55) lost to India A 270/3 in 46.5 overs (Shreyas Iyer 140*, Vijay Shankar 72, Manish Pandey 32*; Junior Dala 2-49) by 7 wickets.
Iyer first shared a 141-run third-wicket stand with Vijay Shankar (72 off 86 balls) and added 109-run partnership with captain Manish Pandey (32 off 38). Openers Karun Nair and Sanju Samson were dismissed cheaply by Junior Dala (2/49) inside five overs but the hosts struggled to find breakthroughs thereafter. It was only in the 35th over that Dwaine Pretorius managed to send back Shankar.Â
Earlier, South Africa A recovered to post a competitive 267 for seven after losing half their side for 115 in the 28th over. The hosts’ recovery act was largely possible thanks to Farhaan Behardien, who finished unbeaten on 101 from 114 balls.Â
New ball bowlers Shardul Thakur and Siddarth Kaul provided the edge to the visitors with impressive figures of 3/52 and 2/55 respectively. Axar Patel picked up one wicket from his 10 overs, which also had one maiden over.Â
The two sides will now play two four-day games. The first match will start from Saturday in Benoni.