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Mayank Agarwal hammered a 49-ball 87 as India ‘A’ beat the touring South Africans in their opening warm-up T20 game by eight wickets, with two balls to spare, at the Air Force ground, in Palam, Delhi, on Tuesday.
Chasing 190 for victory, the home team was well-served by openers Agarwal and Manan Vora (56), who laid the foundation for victory with a rollicking 119-run opening wicket stand.
Earlier, JP Duminy (68 not out), Faf du Plessis (42 retired hurt) punished the Indian bowlers as the Proteas put up 189 for 3 in their 20 overs.
After Tuesday’s knock, Mayank, who has done well in limited-overs (List A and T20) for India ‘A’ over the last two months, will fancy his chances of being named among the 30 probables for World T20 next year.
With the South African bowlers finding it difficult to bowl in the humid conditions, Agarwal and Vora raced to a century-plus stand in 12.4 overs, which eventually was instrumental in the hosts emerging triumphant.
On a pitch that had even bounce, seamers Kylie Abbott, Chris Morris and Kagiso Rabada failed to hit the right length and Agarwal and Vora, both IPL specialists, found it easy to deal with short of length deliveries as they cut and pulled with equal disdain.
Leg-spinners Imran Tahir and Eddie Leie also were unable to find their length and repeatedly dispatched to the ropes.
Vohra was out after scoring 56 off 42 balls, which included eight fours and a six, his first significant T20 innings in a year.
Agarwal, however, combined with Sanju Samson (31 not out), adding 52 for the second wicket.
Just when he was looking good for a century, having reached 87 -- which included 12 boundaries and two sixes, he was caught at deep mid-wicket by David Miller off Merchant de Lange.
Skipper Mandeep Singh then finished the job, remaining unbeaten on 12.
Scorecard
South Africans
AB de Villiers c Negi b Kuldeep 37
Q de Kock run out 2
F du Plessis retired hurt 42
JP Duminy not out 68
D Miller b Pandya 10
F Behardien not out 17
Extras: (B-1, LB-7, W-5) 13
Total: (for 3 wickets; 20 overs) 189
Fall of wickets: 1-3, 2-90, 3-106.
Bowling: Anureet Singh 4-0-49-0, R Dhawan 3-0-33-0, Y Chahal 4-0-31-0, P Negi 3-0-26-0, Kuldeep Yadav 4-0-26-1, H Pandya 2-0-16-1.
India ‘A’
Manan Vohra c Behardien b Duminy 56
Mayank Agarwal c Miller b de Lange 87
Sanju Samson not out 31
Mandeep Singh not out 12
Extras: (LB-1, W-4, NB-2) 7
Total: (For 2 wkts; 19.4 overs) 193
Fall of wickets: 1-119, 2-171.
Bowling: Kyle Abbott 4-0-43-0, Kagiso Rabada 3-0-33-0, Chris Morris 3-0-20-0, M de Lange 2.4-0-25-1, Imran Tahir 3-0-26-0, Eddie Leie 2-0-23-0, JP Duminy 2-0-22-1.