Thiruvananthapuram: Manish Pandey led from the front while Shivam Dube continued to impress as India 'A' won by four wickets in the third one-day against South Africa 'A' to take an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match series on Monday. With two matches left in the series where Shreyas Iyer will take over the leadership role from Pandey, the Proteas can only play for pride.
- Chasing 208 for victory in a rain-curtailed 30-over match, Pandey cracked 81 from 59 balls with the help of three fours and five sixes before Dube smashed a whirlwind unbeaten 28-ball 45 (2x4, 3x6) to take India 'A' to a convincing victory, which at one point looked difficult, with 13 balls to spare.
- India finished on 208/6 in 27.5 overs. Axar Patel was not out on 7. Besides Pandey and Dube, stumper batsman Ishan Kishan -- asked to open the batting -- made 40 from 41 balls (4x4, 1x6). Anrich Nortje (2/41) and George Linde (2/41) were the pick of the bowlers for South Africa 'A'.
Earlier, after electing to bat first, South Africa 'A' rode some late fireworks from wicketkeeper-batsman Heinrich Klaasen (44 off 21 balls; 2x4, 4x6) to post 207/8 in 30 overs.
The Indian spinners led by Yuzvendra Chahal had spun a web around their rival batsmen who failed to get going even though they did not lose wickets in the initial phase.