India 150 for 3 (Nair 57, Pandey 41*) beat Afghanistan 149 (Ashraf 39*, Vijay Shankar 3-24, Axar 3-33)
Scorecard
Axar Patel made an impression with the ball © Cricket Australia/Getty Images
Allrounders Vijay Shankar and Axar Patel took three wickets each as India A sealed a seven-wicket win over Afghanistan A in Pretoria.
Shankar, who replaced Krunal Pandya from the XI that featured in the loss against South Africa A, and took the fifth Afghanistan A wicket – Rahmat Shah for 35 in the 29th over – before taking two more wickets in his next two overs to expose the lower order. Afghanistan A were bowled out for 149, with four batsmen failing to kick on after crossing 30. Karun Nair then struck an unbeaten half-century as India A cruised home in 30.4 overs.
India A’s decision to field first was justified early as Siddarth Kaul removed Usman Ghani for a duck. Axar then got into the action, taking two quick wickets – including that of Javed Ahmadi for 25 – to leave Afghanistan A wobbling at 45 for 3 in the 16th over.
Shankar then took control in the middle overs. He was helped by Yuzvendra Chahal, the legspinner, who took two lower-order wickets to polish off Afghanistan A’s innings in the 41st over. Sharafuddin Ashraf resisted briefly towards the end with a 27-ball 39 that included four fours and two sixes.
Shreyas Iyer fell for a quickfire 20 while Sanju Samson made 18. Thereafter, Nair, who brought up his half-century off 74 deliveries, and Manish Pandey put together 67. After Nair fell, Rishabh Pant made an unbeaten 10-ball 17 as India A coasted to victory.
Afghanistan A play the hosts in the next fixture on Sunday.
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo