India A steamroll Australia A to lift the Quadrangular series

India A put up a dominating performance to beat Australia A by 57 runs in the finals of the Quadrangular Series at Mackay. The host began as the favourites to win the match after having bossed over their Indian counterparts on the previous two occasions both met in the series. However, the India A side, this time, looked thoroughly prepared for the big day, and successfully overcame the challenge to register a convincing win and lift the trophy.

The Men in Blue posted a competitive 267 target after skipper Manish Pandey won the toss and decided to bat first. The innings was powered by Mandeep Singh, who fell short of a century by just five runs, and the skipper himself who hit a patient 61. The hosts, in reply, looked off colours today and lost wickets regularly to eventually crumble for just 209.

The day, which concluded as a victorious one for the India A, began on a sour note after they lost opener Karun Nair in the 2nd over itself. Daniel Worrall broke into his defence to clean bowl him and end his tour with yet another below par score to his credit.

But, Sanju Samson and Mandeep then combined and rallied the team ahead. Both put together a steady 1 run stand before Joe Mennie separated them with the wicket of Samson (41). A great respite was felt by the Australians who had bowled 17 overs without any success.

But, Pandey and Mandeep made sure that they don’t give away the advantage to their opposition and put together another vital 87 runs stand to take India to a comfortable position. Mandeep and Manish played sensibly and fired up the environment with occasional crunch hits to the fence.

Mandeep soon departed in the nervous nineties. Manish went to complete his half-century but he too could not stay till the end and lost his wicket in the 47th overs. Kedar Jadhav (25) and Axar Patel (22) added some quick runs the final overs to take India A to a competitive total.

The chase should have been simple for the Aussies but it wasn’t. Nair, who failed with the bat, turned out to be the surprise weapon with the ball for the Indians. He along with Dhawal Kulkarni brought the first couple of breakthroughs – both of them clean bowled.

Australia after a brisk start lost its opener Kurtis Patterson in the 7th over. A brief rebuilding phase came as Cameron Bancroft and Nic Maddison stitched a 51 runs stand. But, then came the surprise performer – Nair – who broke the stand with the wicket of Bancroft to bring back India into the game.

Nair was not done with the wicket of Bancroft as after a few overs later he added Maddison to his kitty. Alex Handscomb and Alex Ross, however, kept the chase alive but they couldn’t last long and got out after getting starts.

The 4th wicket stand of 77 runs made the Manish Pandey and co. little worried for a while but Ross’s dismissal at the hand of Kulkarni not only brought an end to the partnership but also threw Australia out of the game and set the platform for the win.

The Aussies crumbled badly from thereafter and were bundled out for just 209 from being 168/4 at one stage. The middle order and lower order were completely choked by the leg spin of Yuzvendra Chahal who pocketed 4 for 34 to wipe off the Australian batting order.

The series win is remarkable. India A had got off to a devastating start and had repeatedly failed to get past the Australians. The Australia A side embarrassed them by rolling them over for just 55 in the opening game.

They again failed to beat the home side when they met for the second time, losing narrowly by one run. But, India apart from that dominated the other two competitors – national Performance Squad and South Africa A – to make sure that the road to the finals was an easy one.

Brief Scores:

India A: 266/4 in 50 overs (Mandeep Singh; Marcus Stoinis 1/31)

Australia A: 209 in 44.5 overs (Peter Handscomb 43; Yuzvendra Chahal 4/34)

Player of the match – Mandeep Singh