Australia A maintained their unbeaten streak, defeating India A yet again in the 4th ODI of the triangular series by three wickets at the M.A Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Monday. With this, Australia A have now sealed a place for themselves in the final of the tri-series.
India batted first but struggled to get runs on the board, unlike Sunday's match against South Africa A. Ashton Agar of Australia A stunned the Indian batsmen by rattling their lineup, picking up five wickets. He ended with figures of 5 for 39 in 10 overs. Gurinder Sandhu too picked up two wickets but he was expensive, unlike Agar.
Mayank Agarwal, who scored an unbeaten century (130*) against South Africa A on Sunday, scored a run-a-ball 61 against Australia A on Monday. India A skipper Unmukt Chand, who had scored 90 runs against South Africa A, was dismissed early.
At one stage, India A were reeling at 163 for the loss of six wickets. Manish Pandey, who came in to bat at No.3, kept his calm and scored a gritty half century.
Earlier he had gone off the field after colliding with Australia A wicket keeper Matthew Wade. His innings of 50 runs came in quick time (38 balls), with the help of two boundaries and two sixes and enabled India A to reach a decent total of 259 runs.
Australia A began strongly, but close to the 30th over, the visitors faced some hiccups, as India A bowlers came back, picking up wickets at regular intervals. All of a sudden, Australia A were struggling at 178 for the loss of six wickets.
Karn Sharma picked up three important wickets and was the pick of the India A bowlers. After the debacle in the middle of the run chase, Adam Zampa and Callum Ferguson made sure that they get their side over the line and handed their team yet another win over India A.
