Continuing their fine form, India A sealed the five-match series against hosts West Indies A with a commanding 148-run win in the third one-day on Tuesday. After captain Manish Pandey’s 100 and Shubman Gill’s 77 powered India A to a massive 295/6, Krunal Pandya ran through the batting line-up claiming 5/25. With two more matches still to be played, India A have taken an unassailable 3-0 lead in the tournament.
Having elected to bat first, the visitors were dealt an early blow when Anmolpreet was dismissed for a duck but Gill and Shreyas Iyer stitched a 109-run stand for the second wicket to put India A on course for a big total. It was Rahkeem Cornwall who broke the stand and picked up wickets of both the batsmen. It was Gill’s (77) second successive fifty while Iyer narrowly missed out on his second half-century of the tour as he departed on 47.
However, Pandey carried the momentum forward and hit attacking shots at regular intervals as India A pressed the accelerator. In his knock of 87-ball 100, Pandey smashed six boundaries and five fours.
The home team started on a positive note as the openers raised a fifty-run stand, but once Navdeep Saini removed John Campbell for 21, India A stepped up the attack. From 51-1, West Indies A were reduced to 103-5. Krunal Pandya was the destroyer in chief as he claimed a five-wicket haul in just seven overs. Hanuma Vihari picked two wickets in 2.2 overs.
Brief scores: India A 295/6 in 50 overs (Manish Pandey 100, Shubman Gill 77, Shreyas Iyer 47; Rakheem Cornwall 2/37) beat West Indies A 147 in 34.2 overs (Keemo Paul 34, Sunil Ambris 30, Krunal Pandya 5/25, Hanuma Vihari 2/23) by 148 runs
Man of the Match: Manish Pandey
