Shreyas Iyer roared back to form when it mattered the most, scoring a sublime century to guide India A to a crushing 7-wicket win over South Africa A in the final of the tri-series at LC de Villiers Oval, Pretoria on Tuesday (August 8). Set a target of 268 – courtesy Farhaan Behardien’s unbeaten century and Dwaine Pretorius’ half-century, Iyer did not find any support forged a decisive a 141-run stand with Vijay Shankar before taking the team home by sharing an unbeaten partnership of runs with skipper Manish Pandey as India chased down the total with 19 balls to spare.
India’s pace duo Siddarth Kaul and Shardul Thakur vindicated Pandey’s decision to bowl as they rocked South Africa with three early wickets including the in-form Heinrich Klaasen to leave them reeling at 32 for 3 inside 9 overs. Kaul dismissed both the openers- Reeza Hendricks (5) and Henry Davids (20) while Thakur accounted for Klaasen (6).
But just when it looked like India would strengthen their grip on the match, skipper Khaya Zondo and Behardien steadied the ship with an 80-run stand before the former’s slow 60-ball 30 runs knock was ended by Axar Patel. 3 runs later, India were once again on top when Willem Mulder was run-out for just 1 but Behardien held firm from one end and forged yet another useful partnership, this time with Pretorius to take the team out of the trouble. The duo added 101 runs for the sixth wicket before Pretorius became Thakur’s second victim.
Aaron Phangiso (11 runs off 8 balls) Dane Paterson (14 runs off 4 balls) then played some handy knocks towards the end while Behardien also completed his century, remaining not out on 101 as the hosts posted 267 for 8 in the allotted 50 overs.
In reply, India A were rocked early by Junior Dala’s double strike that saw Karun Nair (4) and Sanju Samson (12) fall cheaply. However, Iyer and Shankar quashed South Africa’s hopes of making further inroads by sharing a brilliant partnership Pandey and the former took the team with utmost ease. Iyer, who had scored only 73 runs in the first four games of the series, scored 140 off 131 balls with the help of 11 fours and 4 sixes while Shankar scored 72 off 86.
Brief scores:
South Africa A 267 for 8 in 50 overs (Farhaan Behardien 101*, Dwaine Pretorius 58, Shardul Thakur 3-42) lost to India A 270 for 3 in 46.5 overs (Shreyas Iyer 140*, Vijay Shankar 72, Junior Dala 2-49) by 7 wickets.