There were certain things which were constant in this series — the inclement weather, South Africa-A’s inability to seize the opportunities to seal the contests and India-A’s resilience to wriggle out of trouble.
As has been the pattern in this series, in the third unofficial one-dayer here on Monday, India found skipper Manish Pandey to play the saviour’s role.
Pandey’s rapid 81 led India to a four-wicket win and enabled the host to take an unassailable 3-0 lead in the series.
Wriggling out
South Africa-A posted 207 for eight in a match reduced to 30-overs a side and had India in trouble at 26 for three. However, India-A wriggled out again as South Africa-A messed up its bowling in the middle overs.
India-A wobbled at the start when Andrich Nortje struck twice in his opening over. But Ishan Kishan, promoted as an opener, struck a few boundaries to ease the pressure.
Junior Dala had Krunal Pandya (13) miscuing a pull to set the stage for Pandey. The Karnataka batsman treated the innocuous spin of George Linde and Bjorn Fortuin with disdain.
Back on track
The brisk 70-run fourth wicket stand put the chase back on track. Ishan’s departure for 40 didn’t curb Pandey’s aggression as he added another quick 37 with Nitish Rana (13) for the fifth wicket.
However, Pandey holed out when the century was his for the taking. Shivam Dube then took over and his unbeaten 45 ensured that the hosts reached the target without any further loss.
Earlier, most of the South African top order batsmen failed to convert their starts into big scores. It was again left to Heinrich Klaasen (44) to give impetus to the innings.
The visitors finished with a competitive score but India-A targeted the weak links in the visitors’ attack to romp home.
The scores: South Africa-A 207 for eight in 30 overs (J. Malan 37, M. Breetzke 36, T. Bavuma 27, H. Klaasen 44) lost to India-A 208 for six in 27.5 overs (Ishan Kishan 40, Manish Pandey 81, Shivam Dube 45 n.o.).