India B skipper Manish Pandey continued his swashbuckling form as they lifted the quadrangular series trophy beating Australia A by nine wickets in the final at M.Chinnaswamy Stadium.
Meanwhile, the hosts put a brilliant batting effort to chase down the target of 225 quite convincingly. Pandey (73*) was the chief architect along with Shubman Gill and Mayank Aggarwal.
India B started their chase in a usual fashion as Agarwal and Ishan Kishan got off to a flier. However, Kishan (13 retd. hurt) suffered a blow from Billy Stanlake and had to leave the field immediately. This didn’t come against India’s reply as Shubman Gill showed enough maturity with the bat.
The duo added 76 runs before Mayank (69) departed of Ashton Agar. Mayank Agarwal, who has been in tremendous touch failed to convert his fifty into a hundred. This brought skipper Manish Pandey to the crease the duo dominated the Australia A bowling.
The bowlers looked out of socks as Pandey (73*) and Gill (66*) drove the ball at ease. The stitched a 120-run stand to see their team home with nine wickets hand. Manish Pandey has led from the front for his team. His scores in the series – 95*, 21*, 117* and 73*. Dominance is an understatement as India B made a light work of the chase – finishing off with 81 balls to spare.
However, previously, a clinical effort from the India B bowlers restricted Australi A to a mere 225 runs. Shreyas Gopal returned with three wickets while Deepak Hooda, Siddarth Kaul, and Navdeep Saini bagged two each.
The visitors had a good start but the middle-order failed to replicate the performances from the last game. Opener D’Arcy Short (72) and wicket-keeper Alex Carey (53) contributed significantly with the bat.
Thus, India B proved to be the best team in the tournament and deservedly, they are crowned the champions.