Australia A storm into final
Usman Khawaja struck an unbeaten century as Australia A beat India B by five wickets under the D/L Method in a rain-affected match to reach the final of the Quadrangular Series here on Monday.
Austraila A will meet India B again on Wednesday in the final to be played at Chinnaswamy stadium here, while South Africa A and India A will fight for third position on the same day.
India B and Australia A bagged 12 points each while India A and South Africa A claimed nine points from five matches.
In a rain-hit match played at Alur, Australia A chased down the truncated target of 247 in 40 overs with the help of a magnificent 101 not out by Khawaja, which came from 93 balls with ten boundaries and a six.
He was ably supported by Jack Wildermuth, who played a cameo of unbeaten 62 off 42 balls, which was studded with five boundaries and three sixes.
The duo shared 93 runs for the sixth wicket, which saw the team through.
Pandey cracked a superlative 117 not out from 109 balls, a knock studded by seven boundaries and three sixes.
Pandey, who came into bat at 64 for 2 in the 15th over, lost Ishan Kishan (31) and Kedar Jadhav (5), but stitched a 84run partnership with Deepak Hooda (30) for the fifth wicket.
In the other match of the day, South Africa A defeated India A by 4 wickets, after the visitors raced past 158 runs target in 37.4 overs.
Batting first, India B were skittled out for 157 in 37.3 overs, with Sanju Samson (36) and Deepak Chahar (38) being the only two batsmen who showed some application to post a respectable target.
Seven batsmen, including Ambati Rayudu and Shreyas Iyer, failed to get to double digit figures.
Dane Paterson’s five-for ripped apart India A as he finished with a match-winning figures of five for 19 with two maidens in it.
In reply, South Africa A rode on Pieter Malan’s 47-run knock to take the total to 103 for four in 27.2 overs, requiring 56 runs in remaining overs.