Pretoria: India A captain Manish Pandey’s fighting fifty went in vain as South Africa A crawled to a two-wicket win the first ODI of the tri-series Groenkloof Stadium in Pretoria on Wednesday.
The Indians were put into bat and did not end up posting a decent total on the board as they were bundled out for a meagre 152 in 41.5 overs. They did not get to the best of starts as they were reduced to 7/2 with just 1.4 overs bowled.
Karun Nair, who had earlier shot into fame courtesy a triple hundred against England scored 25 crucial runs. Sanju Samson (7) and Shreyas Iyer (0) were dismissed cheaply as wicketkeeper batsman Rishabh Pant scored just 10 runs. Krunal Pandya was also sent back for a duck and it was Yuzvendra Chahal who hung around scoring 24* that helped the team to 152. Aaron Phangiso was the wrecker-in-chief as he scalped four wickets giving away 30 runs.
But the South Africans didn’t have it easy. The Indian pace-trio of Basil Thampi, Mohammad Siraj and Shardul Thakur bowled with fire as they dismissed Henry Davids (5) and Dane Peterson (7) in just 2.4 overs with 16 runs on the board.
Spinners Axar Patel and Yuzvendra Chahal shared five wickets between them and dented the South African run chase at regular intervals but couldn’t take his team over the line as the hosts held their nerve to eke out a two-wicket win in 37.4 overs. Dwaine Pretorius top scored with 38 runs but Farhaan Behardien played an unbeaten knock of 37 runs that helped his team clinch the win at the end.
The tour is significant for these players as good performances by them can help them gain a place in the Indian team during the limited overs’ series against Sri Lanka.
Brief scores- India A-152 all out in 41.4 overs (Manish Pandey 55, Karun Nair 25; Aaron Phangiso 4/30) lost to South Africa A-153/8 in 37.4 overs (Dwaine Pretorius 38, Farhaan Behardien 37*; Yuzvendra Chahal 3/41) by 8 wickets.