Ton-up Mayank stars in India-B’s facile win

Prasidh Krishna’s four for 50 restricts India-A to below-par total

In control: Mayank’s prolific run continued as he guided India-B home.

Local lads Prasidh Krishna (four for 50) and Mayank Agarwal (124, 114b, 14x4, 3x6) propelled India-B to a seven-wicket victory over India-A in the Quadrangular Series one-day tournament at Alur grounds here on Saturday.

Pacer Krishna collected his second-straight four-for haul, while Mayank notched up his fourth century in his last seven List-A appearances.

Mayank, who has been prolific in first-class cricket as well, can do no wrong. The Karnataka opener welcomed Statemate K. Gowtham into the attack by smashing the off-spinner for two huge sixes over long-on. He brought up his century with two back-foot punches off left-arm spinner Krunal Pandya. For the umpteenth time in the last year or so, Mayank pulled out his trademark jump and fist-pump celebrations.

Chasing 218, India-B reached the target comfortably with 8.5 overs to spare. A 97-run second-wicket partnership between Shubman Gill (42, 45b, 4x4) and Mayank set the chase on track, and India-A found no way back.

Earlier, India-A huffed and puffed its way to a below-par total.

Krishna took out the top-three batters — R. Samarth (0), Suryakumar Yadav (11) and captain Shreyas Iyer (20) — in quick time to reduce the side to 45 for three. The trio had a tough time negotiating Krishna’s tight length and in-swingers.

Ambati Rayudu (48, 75b) and Sanju Samson (32, 50b) steadied the ship, before K. Gowtham got the score moving with an entertaining 32-ball 35. Gowtham’s three sixes, through mid-wicket and long-off, brought loud cheers from the goodly crowd.

Leg-spinner Shreyas Gopal chipped in with two crucial wickets of Rayudu and Samson. While Rayudu played all around a full delivery to lose his stump, Samson skied one to the hands of Kedhar Jadhav at point.

At the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Travis Head's 110 helped Australia-A defeat South Africa-A by 32 runs, the latter dropping out of contention.

The scores: India-A 217 in 49 overs (Ambati Rayudu 48, K. Gowtham 35, Sanju Samson 32, Prasidh Krishna four for 50) lost to India-B 218 for three in 41.1 overs (Ishan Kishan 25, Mayank Agarwal 124, Shubman Gill 42).

Australia-A 322 for five in 50 overs (Marnus Labuschagne 65, Travis Head 110, D'Arcy Short 49, Mathew Renshaw 42 n.o.) bt South Africa-A 290 in 48.4 overs (K. Zondo 117, G. Cloete 50, Sarel Erwee 37, F. Robert 30, Mitchell Swepson three for 40).