Published: Aug 10, 2015, 05:01 PM (IST)
Edited: Aug 10, 2015, 06:01 PM (IST)
Australia A have clinched their third win in three matches in the ‘A’ team triangular series by defeating India A by three wickets in Chennai. The win was built on left-arm spinner Ashton Agar‘s five wickets that broke the back of the Indian middle order, and meaningful contributions with the bat from four middle-order batsmen: Travis Head, Chris Lynn, Callum Ferguson and Adam Zampa. Lynn and Zampa completed their half-centuries, to help them get to the target in the penultimate over. They gain four points from this game, as the bonus point is taken by India A, but with this result, they have booked their spot in the final of the tri-series. LIVE UPDATES: India A vs Australia A, 4th match, Triangular series, Chennai
Batting first, India A started confidently through Mayank Agarwal, who attacked fast and slow bowlers to score a run-a-ball 61. When Ashton Agar came on to bowl his first over, he had Agarwal bowled by a ball pitching on leg stump and beating Agarwal’s defences to hit the top of middle stump. Off the next ball, Kedar Jadhav, the new batsman, gently lobbed a low full toss to short midwicket. Agar got his third victim in his fourth over, Karun Nair, who was done in by an arm ball, trapped in front of leg stump to be lbw. He claimed his final two wickets in similar fashion, with Akshar Patel and Sanju Samson attempting to sweep him and top-edging to a fielder.
At this time, India A were struggling at 163 for 6. But Manish Pandey, the No. 3 who had gone off the field due to an injury after a collision while running between the wickets, scored a frantic but confident 50, hitting two fours and two sixes in his 38-ball knock that helped the team get past 250. READ: Mayank Agarwal, Manish Pandey lead India A to 258 for 9 against Australia A in Chennai
In reply, Australia A were smooth till the 27th over of their chase. Travis Head, the Australia A No. 3, struck eight fours, including three from an over from seamer Sandeep Sharma, to get his team running at a run-rate of around 6. Karn Sharma, the legspinner, removed him in the 15th over, beating him in flight as he stepped down the track to play an attacking stroke. Lynn, then combined with Peter Handscomb to stitch a meaningful partnership, but after having scored 63 that included five fours and three sixes, he played on to Sharma. Lynn, Matthew Wade and Agar all fell to spinners to have Australia A reduced to 178 for 6.
But they found an unlikely hero in lower-order batsman Adam Zampa, who became the aggressive partner of Ferguson, in the recovery stand of 80, the highest of the match. While Ferguson was intent to block, or run the runs, Zampa attacked, hitting seven fours and a six before getting out with one run to win.
Brief Scores:
India A 258 for 9 in 50 overs (Mayank Agarwal 61, Manish Pandey 50, Karun Nair 32; Ashton Agar 5 for 39, Gurinder Sandhu 2 for 66) lost to Australia A 262 for 7 in 48.3 overs (Travis Head 45, Chris Lynn 63, Callum Feguson 45*; Karn Sharma 3 for 45) by three wickets
