Colombo: Manish Pandey was in his element as he scored a half-century in response to which Suryakumar Yadav raced to his 50-run mark that helped Bhuvneshwar XI beat Shikhar Dhawan XI in an intra-squad T20 simulation game at the SSC ground on Monday.

The coaching staff was pleased with the intensity shown by the players and bowling coach Paras Mhambrey reckoned that they had ticked all the right boxes in humid conditions, according to a video released by BCCI.

Batting first, Dhawan XI put up 154 for four in 20 overs with Pandey scoring 63 off 45 balls. Ruturaj Gaikwad contributed 30-odd, opening the innings.

Opposition skipper Bhuvneshwar Kumar was the best bowler with figures of 2/23 in 4 overs.

In reply, Prithvi Shaw and Devdutt Padikkal added 60 runs in quick time to set up the chase and Surya’s 50-odd helped them achieve the target within 17 overs.

Mhambrey said since the target was easily achieved by the side batting second, “we decided we will revise the target and gave them a situation where they had to score 40 odd runs in four overs to win the match. We wanted to push them and get the best out of the situation.”

(With PTI inputs)