MUMBAI: Sunday’s quadrangular series one-day win Down Under augurs well for Indian cricket. India ‘A’ registered their third successive win over Australia ‘A’ in the ‘A’ series final, Manish Pandey-led team beating the hosts by 57 runs in the summit clash in Mackay, Australia.
The series win is another show of India’s flourishing bench strength. While it was Mandeep Singh (95) and leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal (4/34) who stole the show in the final, skipper Pandey made another strong case for him to be with the senior team.
Pandey’s 61 in the final helped him surpass South Africa’s David Miller (332) to become the highest run-getter of the tournament with 359 runs (two centuries and a half-century).
Kedar Jadhav, who shared a crucial 69-run stand for the fourth wicket with Pandey in the final, also had a good outing, scoring 254 in seven innings.
The Indian bowlers also came to the fore with Mumbai pacer Dhawal Kulkarni finishing with nine wickets from five innings to end second behind Australia ‘A’ pacer Christopher Tremain (13 wickets) in the highest wicket-takers list. Jaydev Unadkat also impressed with six wickets in five innings.
Former chairman of selectors and India skipper Dilip Vengsarkar felt Pandey and Kulkarni must be rewarded soon. “Manish has been a quality player and so is Dhawal. All they require now is regular opportunities with the Indian team to do justice to their talent. At this level (‘A’ tours and U-19s), our focus should not be on winning or losing. We should look at developing our bench strength. We should approach it as preparing players for the international challenges,” said Vengsarkar.
{{/usCountry}}Former chairman of selectors and India skipper Dilip Vengsarkar felt Pandey and Kulkarni must be rewarded soon. “Manish has been a quality player and so is Dhawal. All they require now is regular opportunities with the Indian team to do justice to their talent. At this level (‘A’ tours and U-19s), our focus should not be on winning or losing. We should look at developing our bench strength. We should approach it as preparing players for the international challenges,” said Vengsarkar.
{{/usCountry}}Given the pace-friendly conditions in Australia, it was a rarity for a leg-spinner to be amongst the top five wicket-takers. Chahal finished with seven wickets in four matches at an economy rate of 4.26. “There is a dearth of quality spinners. So, it is good to see Chahal doing well,” said Vengsarkar.
Former India coach Lalchand Rajput, who is currently the national coach of Afghanistan cricket team, demanded more hard work from the players.
“Performances in ‘A’ tours do not guarantee a place in the Indian team. It is about performing consistently. The success in Australia should be an impetus to work harder and focus better,” said Rajput.
BRIEF SCORES
FINAL: India ‘A’ 266/4 (Mandeep 95, Pandey 61) beat Australia ‘A’ 209 (Handscomb 43, Ross 34; Chahal 4/34) by 57 runs.