INDIA A TOUR OF SOUTH AFRICA

Pandey shines but India A start tour with close defeat

by Cricbuzz Staff • Last updated on

Manish Pandey composed a fine fifty © Getty

South Africa A sealed a two-wicket win over India A in the opening encounter of the tri-series at the Groenkloof Stadium in Pretoria on Wednesday (July 26). The win, however, came after they were stretched a bit by the visitors before walking past the target of 153 in the 42nd over.

The A tour holds a lot of significance for a number of India players with some trying to prove their mettle after their Indian Premier League performances, and others like Manish Pandey and Karun Nair trying to find their way back in the national side. The performance though should leave them disappointed with a collective failure of the batting unit during the first match of the tour.

Asked to bat, the visitors were shot down for a paltry score with Pandey scoring 55. Karun, dropped from the Test side, scored 25 while Rishabh Pant and Sanju Samson departed for single-digit scores. Shreyas Iyer and Krunal Pandya bagged ducks and it was Yuzvendra Chahal's effort that took them past the 150-run mark.

Pandey has endured a tough time since the IPL with a side strain ruling him out of the ICC Champions Trophy in the United Kingdom. Now with the limited-overs series in Sri Lanka coming up, he will look to earn his place in the national side. The 95-ball half-century should help him ease into competitive cricket and the innings should hold him in good stead for the rest of the tour.

South Africa didn't have their chase straightforward and huffed and puffed past the target. Henry Davids, Reeza Hendricks and Dane Paterson were nipped out by India's pace troika of Basil Thampi, Shardul Thakur and Mohammad Siraj. Heinrich Klaasen and Khaya Zondo got starts but the hosts still slipped to 71 for 5.

India were not able to make enough breakthroughs after that as Farhaan Behardien (37*) and Dwaine Pretorius (38) shared a 62-run stand to bring their side back in the contest. There was another wobble in the end but the stand had done enough to negate that slip-up.

Brief scores: India A 152 in 41.5 overs (Manish Pandey 55; Aaron Phangiso 4-30) lost to South Africa A 153/8 in 37.4 overs (Dwaine Pretorius 38; Yuzvendra Chahal 3-41) by two wickets.

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