India A 275 (Shedge 66, Arya 49, Nigam 40, Dwarshuis 3-38, Sutherland 3-44) beat Australia A 226 (Philippe 56, McSweeney 39, Gurjapneet 3-56) by 49 runs
A half-century from Suryansh Shedge followed by Gurjapneet Singh's three-for helped India A earn a consolation 49-run win against Australia A in the third one-dayer after losing the first two matches of the series. Australia A won the series 2-1.
After being asked to bat, India A's new set of openers, Priyansh Arya and Prabhsimran Singh, who also open together for Punjab Kings in the IPL, got them off to a flier. The pair scored 82 in the first ten overs, after replacing B Sai Sudharsan and Devdutt Padikkal at the top of the order. However, Liam Scott, brought on second change, broke through after the first powerplay by dismissing Prabhsimran for a 34-ball 39.
Padikkal, batting at No. 3, had a short stay, but Arya continued to dominate. But he fell one short of a half-century when he nicked Ben Dwarshuis behind. India A's batting has not been up to mark the entire series, and on the day too, they slipped from 106 for 2 to 159 for 6.
But Shedge, in legspin-bowling allrounder Vipraj Nigam's company, resurrected the side. The pair added 85 for the seventh wicket with Shedge scoring a 47-ball fifty. He hit seven fours and two sixes in his 66 off just 60 balls. Nigam made 40 off 44 before falling to Will Sutherland. Thanks to the pair, India managed to post 275.
Australia A looked to be on course with openers Josh Philippe and Scott on the offensive. They scored 61 in the first ten overs and added 82 together before Nigam trapped Philippe lbw for 56. In the next over, Nishant Sindhu had Scott caught behind. But Lachlan Shaw and Nathan McSweeney dug in and kept Australia A on course.
Gurjapneet Singh then had McSweeney, the leading scorer of the series, caught behind by Kumar Kushagra, subbing in for Prabhsimran, and that triggered an Australia A collapse. The tourists lost 7 for 49 from there with the asking rate constantly mounting, and were bowled out for 226. Gurjapneet finished with three wickets while Sindhu and Yash Thakur also chipped in.
Nigam was adjudged the Player of the Match for his rescue act with the bat and the crucial wicket of Philippe while McSweeney was named the Player of the Series.
