India 'A' beat Afghanistan 'A' to register their maiden victory in the the tri-nation series
India A registered their first victory in the in the tri-nation 'A' series after defeating Afghanistan A by seven wickets. India won the toss and opted to field. The Afghanistan A team were seen struggling against the spells of the Indian bowlers at the LC de Villiers Oval.
Axar Patel's 3/33 and Vijay Shankar's 3/24 helped India A in bundling the Afghan batsmen on a low total of 149 in 40 overs. Their opening batsman, Usman Ghani was dismissed for a duck. Javed Ahmadi and Rahmat Shah were also dismissed quickly by Axar and that caused the Afghanistan A team to cripple under the pressure from the Indian bowlers.
Following that, Yuzvendra Chahal caused Najibullah Zadran to walk back to the pavilion which a gave major blow to the middle order batting of Afghanistan A. Sharafuddin Ashraf's 39 runs were the highest from Afghanistan A's batting side.
In response, Karun Nair's 57 off 83 balls helped team India chase the meagre total in 30 overs. Manish Pandey, the skipper, scored an unbeaten 41 aided Nair's knock as the duo established a stable partnership for the third wicket. India's opening batsmen, Shreyas Iyer and Sanju Sampson, fell prey to early dismissals.
Much to their disappointment, both Iyer and Sanju failed to make a mark in the second game of the tournament as well. The former was dismissed after being caught out by Ashraf on Yamin Ahmadzai's delivery. Sharaf also made Samson his victim after he trapped the latter leg before wicket. However, Nair's steady knock allowed India their grip over the match.
Rishabh Pant's swift 17 off 10 deliveries was enough for Pandey's men in the end after Nair was dismissed by Ashraf. He stole three boundaries while batting alongside the captain and led his side to the quick win.
In the opening encounter of the series, South Africa A defeated India A by two wickets. Despite Pandya's 55-run knock, India could put up a trivial total score of 153 for the hosts to chase. South Africa 'A' pursued the total with eight overs remaining and pushed the Indians to third place.
The latter's maiden victory in the tournament means they are back to second position in the points table after they levelled their win to loss ratio. They will now face Afghanistan 'A' again at the same venue on August 1.