Australia A will take on India A in Quadrangular series final

Australia A clashed against India A twice in the tournament and they emerged as winners on both the occasions, which will give them a psychological advantage for the home side when they take on India in the final match of the Quadrangular A series.

However, after the league stages, India and Australia were evenly poised at the top spot in the points table having 16 points with 3 wins and 2 loses. Whereas, one match ended without any result. Both the teams have been equally brilliant if we look at points table as they differ only on the basis of the net run-rate. So, final is going to be a thrilling encounter.

Pitch Conditions:

The pitch at the Ray Mitchell Oval, Harrup Park, Mackay will offer enough support for the new ball bowlers. From the opening batsman’s perspective, the key will be to survive the new ball since the pitch gets better to bat as the day progresses. Once you don’t lose more than one wicket in the first 10-15, you will be looking at a score in excess of 280. With quite a few matches at this venue in the last couple of weeks, the pitch deteriorated a bit which will hold the ball in the wicket a bit more and offer some turn for the spinners.

Team Analysis

India A:

India A are strong contenders to win the title, even though their two losses came at the hands of Australia A. Kedar Jadhav’s golden run of form helped India reach the final as he piled on an outstanding unbeaten 93 against the National Performance Squad (NPS).

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Indian skipper Manish Pandey, who had already scored two centuries in the series will also hold the key in the big match. Dhawal Kulkarni and Jaydev Unadkat have been the wicket-takers for India A in the series and Shardul Thakur who came in as a replacement of Kulkarni in their last match might also have a role to play. The all-rounders Hardik Pandya and Axar Patel haven’t made much of an impact but this is the stage for a hero, and both the players are well capable of doing it with both bat and ball.

Australia A:

Australia A is top on confidence with the 2 wins against India A, but they will be very much aware of the fact they won the second match by the narrowest of margins as the Men in Blue found themselves one run short in the target.

The pacer Chris Tremain will have a huge role to play in the final being the leading wicket-taker of the tournament with 12 wickets from 4 matches. India was bowled out for 52 in the first match between these two sides and he claimed 5 wickets in that match. Daniel Worrall will share the new ball with him as the opening duo’s success will matter a lot to the hosts.

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Opening batsman Kurtis Patterson’s bright form has been the positive factor in their batting line-up. Patterson along with Chris Lynn will have to hold it up for Australia in either case if they are chasing down a target or post a good target as Lynn at one-down has been in decent touch throughout the series.

Probable XI:

India A:

Dhawal Kulkarni, Manish Pandey (C), Kedar Jadhav, Mandeep Singh, Jayant Yadav, Karun Nair, Sanju Samson, Shardul Thakur, Axar Patel, Shreyas Iyer, Hardik Pandya

Australia A:

Glenn Maxwell, Chris Lynn (C), Joe Mennie, Cameron Boyce, Peter Handscomb, Kurtis Patterson, Kane Richardson / Daniel Worrall, Sam Whiteman, Chris Tremain, Alex Ross, Marcus Stoinis

Match starts at 5:00 AM IST

You can watch the game live on cricket.com.au 

StAttack:

1. Australia A’s Chris Tremain is the leading wicket-taker of the series with 12 wickets from 4 matches. India A’s Dhawal Kulkarni is the third leading wicket-taker with 7 wickets against his name.

2. Indian skipper Manish Pandey with 298 runs is the second leading run-getter behind South Africa’s David Miller (332). Pandey needs to score 35 runs in the final to top the batting charts.

3. Kedhar Jadhav currently has 229 runs and needs 104 more runs to be the leading run-getter.