Manish Pandey leads India A to a convincing 113-run victory over Afghanistan

 Team captain Manish Pandey continued his good run with the bat as India A defeated Afghanistan A by a margin of 113 runs, to register their second win in the tri-nation one day international series.

India A posted a strong total of 322 runs for the loss of 5 wickets as Pandey and Rishabh Pant notched up half centuries. The skipper played a gritty innings scoring 86 runs from 87 balls while Pant knocked 60 runs from 59 balls. 

Krunal Pandya played a fiery cameo, smashing 48 off 27 balls to make a significant contribution.   

 Pandey blasted nine boundaries and a six, while Pant hit five fours and a six in his innings. Krunal's swashbucklinginnings was studded with seven fours and a six.   

 India A then restricted Afghanistan A to 209 for nine to notch up a comfortable win. India had defeated Afghanistan byseven wickets on July 28th.   

 Chasing a stiff target, Afghanistan batsmen got starts but they could not capitalise.    

Javed Ahmadi (21), Younas Ahmadzai (28), Rahmat Shah (28) were out despite making good starts as Afghanistan werelooking down the barrel at 98 for 5 in the 27th over.   

 Najibullah Zadran (62 off 78) stood amidst the ruins with a strokeful fifty.   

 For India, Mohammed Siraj (3/49) took three wickets, while Vijay Shankar (2/21) and Siddarth Kaul (2/35) snappedtwo wickets each.     

Earlier put into bat, India A made a watchful start with Karun Nair and Iyer putting up 38 before the former wasdismissed by Nawaz Khan in the ninth over.   

 Iyer and Pant then brought up the 100 in 20.1 overs but the opener too was removed in the 22nd over by SharafuddinAshraf.     

At 108-2, Pandey joined Pant and the duo added 42 runs as India A reached 150 in 28th over. Rahmat Shah then dismissed Pant with Ashraf taking the catch. His innings was studded with five boundaries and a six.   

 Pandey and Deepak Hooda (32) forged a 78-run partnership for the fourth wicket to take India A across the 200-mark.     

In the 42nd over, Hooda removed Ashraf, who trapped him infront of wicket as India A slipped to 228 in 41.2 overs.   

 Krunal then took the Afghanistan attack to the sword with a 27-ball 48, laced with seven hits to the fence and a six totake India A close to 300-run mark.     

The 26-year-old from Baroda added 51 runs in 30 balls with Pandey for the fifth wicket but he was dismissed in the 48th over by Mohammad Ibrahim.     

Shankar (18) blasted two sixes as he and Pandey helped India A put up a challenging score on the board.