India A won their last league match against South Africa by 1 wicket played at Pretoria. South Africa A was invited to bat as contributions from Klassen, Murder helped the hosts to post 266 for 9. Manish Pandey and Sanju Samson played important knocks to win a thrilling match.
India A captain Manish Pandey won the toss and elected to field. Mohammed Siraj and Shardul Thakur gave the team a good start picking the first 3 wickets at the score of 20. At the end of first 10 overs, South Africa A scored 48 for 3. South Africa A was struggling at 65 for 5 in the 15th over. Klassen and Pretorius steadied the innings with an important partnership 63 runs for the sixth wicket. The wicketkeeper batsmen completed his fifty in 45 balls and then continued to make the batting look easy. Klassen scored his century in 93 balls while Mulder completed his fifty in 74 balls. It was a great knock by Klassen who was dismissed for 127 in 108 balls. Thakur was the pick of bowlers taking for 4/35.
Chasing the target of 267, India A lost two early wickets of Iyer and Vijay Shankar at the score of 15. Risbabh Pant and Sanju Samson steadied the innings scoring 37 runs in first 10 overs. Both Pant and Samson added 56 runs for the third wicket as Pant was dismissed for 20 runs. Samson completed his half century off 75 balls with a six. The right handed batsman was dismissed for 68. Manish Pandey played captains knock.
Deepak Hooda, Shardul Thakur, Yuzvendra Chahal gave support to the captain. Pandey scored his third half century of the tournament. Krunal Pandya played a cameo knock of 25 in 15 balls. The situation was tensed as 1 run required in the final over with Siraj on strike. He took single off the 4th ball and won the match by 1 wicket.
India A 267 for 9 in 49.4 overs ( Manish Pandey 93*, Sanju Samson 68, T Shamsi 3/55, Dala 3/56) beat South Africa 266 in 48.2 overs ( Klassen 127, Mulder 66, Shardul Thakur 4/35) by 1 wicket.
The final league match will be played on 5th August before these two teams meet in the finals on 8th August.
