Pretoria: A scintillating double century (248 off 150 balls) by Shikhar Dhawan coupled with a 109 off 97 balls by skipper Cheteshwar Pujara steered India ‘A’ to a 39-run win over South Africa ‘A’ and helped them reach the final of the tri-series, here on Monday.
Dhawan’s 248 is only the second highest individual List A score behind former Surrey batsman Alistair Brown, who scored 268 against Glamorgan at the Oval, on July 19, 2002.
Dhawan and Murali Vijay gave India A a solid start reaching 91 in the 12th over before Vijay fell to B Hendricks on 40. Thereafter, Dhawan found some solid support from Pujara (109 not out) and India A scored a massive 433 for three in 50 overs.
Chasing the huge target, South Africa A fought hard and made a match out it it before being bowled out for 394 in 48.4 overs. Reeza Hendricks (102, 78 balls, 12×4, 2×6) and Vaughn van Jaarsveld’s (108, 91 balls, 7×4, 5×6) centuries were not good enough to take the hosts past the finishing line.
India A will meet Australia A in the final on Wednesday.
Brief Scores: India ‘A’ 433/3 in 50 overs (Shikhar Dhawan 248, Cheteshwar Pujara 109 no, Murali Vijay 40, Hardus Viljoen 1/94, Rusty Theron 1/98). South Africa ‘A’ 394 in 48.4 overs (Reeza Hendricks 102, Vaughan van Jaarsveld 108, Ishwar Chand Pandey 4/76, Jaydev Unadkat 2/79). India won by 39 runs.
