Batting might powers India B to title after Australians crumble against spin

Cricket

India B 230 for 1 (Pandey 73*, Agarwal 69, Gill 66*) beat Australia A 225 (Short 72, Carey 53, Shreyas 3-50, Kaul 2-24) by nine wickets
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

The Karnataka boys – Mayank Agarwal and Manish Pandey – continued to make cases for national selection by stroking half-centuries to help India B beat Australia A in the quadrangular series final in Bengaluru.

For Agarwal, it was about forgetting the snub for the fourth and fifth Tests in England. For Pandey, it was a case of trying to extend his glorious run of form after warming the bench across both short formats in England and put himself back in the reckoning for the Asia Cup.

Agarwal’s bruising 67 – to go with an unbeaten 124 earlier in the tournament – set up India B’s chase of 226. His counter-attacking 76-run stand for the first wicket with Shubman Gill, after Ishan Kishan had injured his thumb and retired hurt in the seventh over, forced Australia A into the defensive. Once Agarwal fell, Pandey walloped an unbeaten 54-ball 73 to clinch victory in just 36.3 overs.

Pandey’s second-wicket stand with Gill, who made 66 not out, stood at 120. He finished the tournament with scores of 95*, 21*, 117* and 73*. In all, his 306 runs came at a strike rate of 99.15.

Agarwal kickstarted the chase with a delightful extra-cover drive for a boundary off the first ball. But it wasn’t until he backed away and walloped a length ball from Billy Stanlake inside-out for six over the same region that his confidence soared. The shot had come in the middle of an intense new-ball burst from Stanlake, who had just rapped Kishan on his thumb with a lifter.

Two balls later, Australia A were celebrating again when Michael Neser threw himself to his right to pluck a one-handed catch off Gill at midwicket. However, while checking if the catch had been clean, the umpires discovered that Stanlake had overstepped. Gill, on zero then, made use of his good fortune to punish Australia and bring up a measured half-century off 67 balls.

Once the landmark had been reached, Gill shifted into overdrive. His bottom-handed whip off Mitchell Swepson, the legspinner, was a standout aspect of his approach to spin, and his confidence in lofting Neser through the line for six over long-on was a mark of his authority at the crease. But that was long after the chase had gone cold.

With the foundation set and no pressure to contend with, Pandey kept himself busy, collecting his runs in typically unorthodox fashion. In his previous outing, Pandey had displayed swift footwork in trying to smother spin. On Wednesday, he brought out the deft touches and stayed back in the crease. And then, once the target was within sight, he brought out the big hits to accelerate the finish.

Australia, who finished the tournament with two wins in four games, had Short’s 72 at the top of the order among their positives. But their performance against spin will give them lots to think about leading into the two four-day matches in September. Australia A had talked up their approach to spin, and the positive influence of spin-specific camps in Brisbane and Bengaluru. However, they failed to walk the talk, losing six wickets to the spinners. As a result, they conceded whatever advantage they had gained, after having looked good for 250.

Australia largely looked to sweep and play spin from the crease, resulting in two of their frontline batsmen – Usman Khawaja and Alex Carey – falling to top-edges that were pouched by the wicketkeeper. Short and Khawaja took on Prasidh Krishna with the new ball, and hit him for five boundaries in his first two overs to force an early change. Spin was introduced in the ninth over, with Australia A having raced to 48 without loss. Off his second delivery, Khawaja survived when he stepped out to flick and found a leading edge that just eluded cover. He was out next ball, though, looking to slog against the turn, with the top-edge taken by Kishan.

In the next over, Travis Head was out to a leading edge off Navdeep Saini, with Gill running in from point to complete a superb catch. It left Australia 56 for 2 in the 10th over. Short carried on to bring up his half-century off just 43 balls, employing the sensible drop-and-run methods against Saxena instead of the sweep. He raised a half-century stand with Marnus Labuschagne before Australia A collapsed.

Labuschagne failed to read a Shreyas Gopal flipper and was out lbw looking to play across the line. This wicket was offset by Carey, whose deft touches and delicate paddles brought him a half-century. Short carried on unperturbed at the other end, even if he was at times watchful against spin. He made 30 off the 46 deliveries he faced against spin, before spooning a catch to cover off Deepak Hooda. It kicked off the freefall, with Australia eventually slipping from 192 for 5 to 225 all out, Siddarth Kaul and Navdeep Saini polishing off the tail with skiddy bouncers.

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