India A vs England Lions, 3rd unofficial ODI, Review: Krunal Pandya helps hosts romp to a series victory

India A came into the third unofficial ODI against England Lions with a 2-0 lead. The third match at the Greenfield International Stadium in Thiruvananthapuram turned out to be a low-scoring affair and it was the home team, who won the match by 60 runs and also took an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match series. The visiting team had their moments to rejoice, but couldn’t be consistent enough.

India A stumble

After winning the toss and electing to bat, India A found themselves in trouble as Lewis Gregory got rid of Ajinkya Rahane in the very first ball of the match. KL Rahul, playing his first contest, could only score 13 runs with a couple of boundaries. Hanuma Vihari and Shreyas Iyer fell prey to Gregory and Jamie Overton respectively. Krunal Pandya was the fifth wicket to fall at the score of 94 in 21.4 overs.

Ishan Kishan looked solid with a knock of 30 runs from 63 balls and he perished to Will Jacks. Axar Patel couldn’t make much of an impact either. Nevertheless, Deepak Chahar played a short yet, a gem of a knock. The right-hander notched 39 runs from 65 balls with the help of one four and four over-boundaries. The Uttar Pradesh-born helped India A post a respectable score of 172 in 47.1 overs.

Krunal weaves his magic

India started well in the second innings as Axar accounted for the wickets of both the openers- Alex Davies and Will Jacks. Chahar pinned Sam Billings for four runs. Thereafter, Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope added 47 crucial runs to inject momentum into the innings. Just when it seemed that the duo was taking the match away, Navdeep Saini got rid of Pope after the left-hander scored 27 from 44 deliveries.

The hosts then lost three more wickets for merely eight runs and were reduced to 78 for seven wickets in 22.1 overs. Jamie Overton and Danny Briggs tried their heart out with knocks of 18 and 15 respectively, but their efforts went in vain. Krunal Pandya was rightly adjudged the Player of the Match as he picked up four vital wickets. Axar and Navdeep also got two wickets each.

Brief Scores

India A: 172 all out in 47.1 overs; (Deepak Chahar 39, Ishan Kishan 30; Jamie Overton 3/34, Matthew Carter 2/23)

England A: 112 all out in 30.5 overs; (Ben Duckett 39, Ollie Pope 27; Krunal Pandya 4/21, Navdeep Saini 2/21)

Result: India A won by 60 runs.

Player of the Match: Krunal Pandya

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