India A have beaten Australia by 2 wickets in the third unofficial ODI at the Green Park Stadium in Kanpur to claim a 2-1 series victory.
Australia A’s fightback
The game looked to be a straightforward one after India A had the visitors at 44/4 after 8 overs. The Shreyas Iyer-led team was on top for a long time. Australia A were 115/5 after 18 overs and 135/6 after 21 overs. But the Aussies, like their senior team, crawled back into the match.
From there, Liam Scott and Jack Edwards put up a 148-run stand. Neither went on to score a well-deserved hundred, but the job was done. From 44/4, Australia A went on to post 316. Now, this was a proper match.
Harshit Rana goes for runs
As for India A’s bowling, Harshit Rana took 3 wickets but went for 61 runs in 9.1 overs. Vipraj Nigam bowled just 6 overs and was smashed for 60 runs. Gurjapneet Singh also bowled just 6 overs but got a wicket. Nishant Sindhu went for runs as well, taking 1 wicket in 7 overs.
Arshdeep Singh was the standout performer, taking 3 wickets for just 38 runs. Surprisingly, Ayush Badoni was India’s best bowler after Arshdeep. He took 2 wickets in 6 overs.
Abhishek Sharma misfires
Abhishek Sharma, who scored a golden duck in the last match, didn’t do great again. He scored 22 from 25 balls. But his opening partner from Punjab, Prabhsimran Singh, top scored. He scored a 66-ball hundred but got out soon after his century. Prabh had also scored a fifty in the first match. Tilak Varma, who had played a brilliant 94-run knock in the last game, got out for a single-digit score.
But Shreyas Iyer and Riyan Parag scored fine fifties. Funnily, both got out for 62. Parag’s performance was the most impressive since he scored fifties in all three matches: 67(42), 58(54), and 62(58). But India A stumbled after they departed. Two wickets by Todd Murphy had them at 301/8, but then Vipraj and Arshdeep saw India home for a 2-wicket victory.
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