India 'B' set up final with Australia 'A'

An unbeaten century from Usman Khawaja powered Australia ‘A’ to a five-wicket win over India ‘B’ under the DLS Method in a rain-affected match and reach the final of the Quadrangular Series here at Alur grouns on Monday.

The loss, however, didn’t affect India ‘B’ much as the Manish Pandey-led side to made it to the the final which will be played on Wednesday here at the M Chinnaswamy stadium.

The other two teams in the fray, South Africa ‘A’ and India ‘A’, will fight for the third position on the same day.

India ‘B’ and Australia ‘A’ bagged 12 points each while India ‘A’ and South Africa ‘A’ claimed nine points from five matches.

Australia ‘A’ chased down the truncated target of 247 in 40 overs with the help of a magnificent 101 not out by Khawaja, which came from 93 balls with ten boundaries and a six.

He was ably supported by Jack Wildermuth, who played a cameo of unbeaten 62 off 42 balls, with five fours and three sixes.

The duo shared 93 runs for the sixth wicket, which saw the team through.

Khawaja and Alex Carey gave a perfect start to Australia ‘A’ as they stitched 77 runs for the first wicket in 13.1 overs.

Earlier, India B posted 276 for 6, riding on Pandey’s brilliant unbeaten century.

Pandey cracked 117 not out from 109 balls, a knock laced with seven fours and three sixes.

Pandey, who came into bat at 64 for 2 in the 15th over, lost Ishan Kishan (31) and Kedar Jadhav (5), but stitched an 84-run partnership with Deepak Hooda (30) for the fifth wicket.

Jalaj Saxena made 18 and Shreyas Gopal an unbeaten 12, in the company of Pandey.

In the other match of the day, South Africa ‘A’ defeated India ‘A’ by 4 wickets, after the visitors raced past 158 runs target in 37.4 overs.

Batting first, India ‘A’ were skittled out for 157 in 37.3 overs, with Sanju Samson (36) and Deepak Chahar (38) being the only two batsmen who showed some application to post a respectable target.

Seven batsmen, including Ambati Rayudu and Shreyas Iyer, failed to get to double digit figures.

Dane Paterson’s five-for ripped apart India ‘A’ as he finished with a match-winning figures of five for 19 with two maidens in it.

Brief scores: India ‘B’: 276/6 in 50 overs (Mayank Agarwal 36, Ishan Kishan 31, Manish Pandey 117, Deepak Hooda 30; Michael Neser 3-47) lt to Australia ‘A’: 248/5 in 40 overs (Usman Khawaja 101 n.o., Jack Wildermuth 62 n.o.; Jalaj Saxena 2-47) Via DLS Method.

India ‘A’: 157 all out in 37.3 overs (Sanju Samson 36, Deepak Chahar 38; Dane Paterson 5-17; Robert Fytlinck 2-36, Sisanda Magala 2-46) lt to South Africa ‘A’: 159/6 in 37.4 overs (Pieter Malan 47, K Khaleel Ahmed 3-45, Krunal Pandya 2-37).