Twitter Reactions: Axar Patel, Shivam Dube and Chahal shine in India A’s win against South Africa A
Shivam Dube was highly impressive with the bat.
In the first unofficial ODI under Manish Pandey, India A thumped South Africa A by a massive 69-run margin. Due to a wet outfield, the start of this game was delayed. As a result, the match was reduced to 47-overs per side. At the Greenfield International Stadium, South Africa A’s skipper Temba Bavuma won the toss and opted to field first.
Even though the hosts put up a 54-run opening partnership, it was Shubman Gill who largely dominated. Ruturaj Gaikwad was the first to fall after crawling his way to 10 runs from 16 balls. Soon, his partner also fell for almost a run-a-ball 47. Just like Shubman, quite a few other batsmen also failed to utilise their starts. Anmolpreet Singh looked good for his 29 but couldn’t convert it into a big one.
Shivam Dube and Axar Patel provide India A with the final impetus
Similarly, the likes of Manish Pandey and Ishan Kishan also got off to good starts. However, they were dismissed for 39 and 37 runs respectively. Apart from Ruturaj, Krunal Pandya was the other batsman who failed to make an impact. He mustered 14 runs from 25 balls before Anrich Nortje got him. At 206/6 after 36 overs, India A looked to be in all sorts of bother.
However, Shivam Dube and Axar Patel rose up to the occasion. While the former player calculated cricket and scored 79 off 60 balls, the latter was at his aggressive best. Axar Patel took just 36 balls to score 60 runs. The efforts from these two men pushed India’s total to 327/6 in 47 overs.
Despite Reeza Hendricks scoring a century, the chase was largely a struggle for South Africa A. Reeza provided the team with a wonderful platform by scoring 110 runs off 108 balls. However, most of the other batsmen couldn’t build upon that. Heinrich Klaasen, with 43-ball 58 was impressive. But no other batsman in the line-up managed to score more than 30 runs. While Yuzvendra Chahal picked up five wickets, Axar Patel accounted for two.
Twitterati was glad that India A won the match so comprehensively. They felt that Axar Patel deserves a second chance in the Indian team. They were also all praise for Shivam Dube and Yuzvendra Chahal.
Here is how Twitterati reacted:
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