Iyer, Shankar power India A to tri-series win

India A rode on Shreyas Iyer's unbeaten century and all-rounder Vijay Shankar's half-century to thrash South Africa A by seven wickets and retain the tri-series trophy here.

Chasing a modest 268, Iyer (140 not out) and Shankar (72) put on 141 runs for the third wicket to rescue the visitors from a precarious 20/2 after Junior Dala removed openers Sanju Samson and Karun Nair in the first six overs here on Tuesday.

Mumbai's Iyer, who had not scored a fifty earlier in the series, and Tamil Nadu skipper Shankar, who had scored a duck in his previous match, joined forces to deny South Africa another wicket for more than 28 overs.

The fall of Shankar brought in skipper Manish Pandey (32 not out), who along with Iyer put on an unbroken 109 in only 12.3 overs to seal the win with 19 balls to spare.

Pandey, with scores of 55, 41 not out, 86 not out, 93 not out and 32 not out, was named Man-of-the-Series.

Earlier, Farhaan Behardien (101 not out) and Dewald Pretorious (58) helped the hosts recover from a disastrous 32/3 to post 267/7.

Among the India A bowlers, Mumbai's Shardul Thakur struck thrice while fellow pacer Siddarth Kaul took a couple of wickets after Pandey opted to put the opposition in.

Brief Scores: South Africa A 267/7 (Farhaan Behardien 101 not out, Dewald Pretorius 58, Shardul Thakur 3/52, Siddharth Kaul 2/55) lose to India A 270/3 (Shreyas Iyer 140 not out, Vijay Shankar 72, Junior Dala 2/49) by 7 wickets.

--IANS

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