India A 433 for 3 (Dhawan 248, Pujara 109*) beat South Africa A 394 (Van Jaarsveld 108, Hendricks 106, Pandey 4-76) by 39 runs
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Shikhar Dhawan began with Mo Farah-esque strides and ended with an Usain Bolt-like burst to plunder 248 off 150 balls - the second-highest
List A score ever and the record for an A-team - out of India A's
giddying 433 for 3, in the virtual semi-final against South Africa A in
Pretoria. South Africa, in reply, made the most of a flat pitch and
short boundaries to come close to the target and only ran out of steam
towards the end to lose by 39 runs.
India had chosen to bat and the innings started with Dhawan driving one
straight down the ground. A flurry of boundaries helped Dhawan and his
new partner at the top, M Vijay, scoot to 91 in the 12th over, but as
Pujara joined Dhawan after Vijay was caught behind for 40, there was a
quiet period as the run rate dropped to below seven. It was merely the
quiet before the violence.
Dhawan arrived at the century-mark off 86 balls with a straight-driven
boundary in the 27th over, and found his nitro booster to rocket from
there on. In the 28th over, he smashed his first six, off Juan Theron,
and immediately followed it with another. The projected team total was
constantly being readjusted to higher levels as Dhawan kept finding the
boundaries in an unprecedented attack. His second hundred came at almost
double the rate as his first, taking 46 balls, as he smashed his way to
becoming only the third Indian to record a double-century in
limited-overs cricket after Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar. At the
other end, Cheteshwar Pujara had quietly brought up his own fifty off
54 balls.
Dhawan would not have got his double century had Rusty Theron held on to
a chance off the bowling of Roelof van der Merwe when Dhawan was on
154, but with 10 overs still left when he got past that landmark, the
11-year-old record of the highest List A score of 268 looked well within
his reach. He fell 20 runs short of it to finish second best. Pujara's
unbeaten 109 off 97 seemed mild in comparison. The two batsmen scored
285 runs together in 33.2 overs, 220 of which came from Dhawan's bat.
South Africa's bowling unit also entered record books as this was the
first instance of five bowlers giving away more than 60 runs each in a
List A match, but they were not the only ones to suffer. India's bowlers
were meted out the same treatment as South Africa openers Reeze
Hendricks and Rilee Rossouw rampaged their way to 121 by the 13th over
and a repeat of South Africa's senior side's memorable night seven years ago didn't appear improbable.
A couple of quick wickets fell to the spinners, but Hendricks hammered a
75-ball hundred to take South Africa past 200 in the 25th over. The
ball frequently disappeared to the adjacent net-ball courts as South
Africa remained abreast with the required rate. The chase was following
After the dismissal of Hendricks, the required rate went over 10-an-over
for the first time in the 32nd over, but Vaughn van Jaarsveld, with
helpful cameos from Justin Ontong and Roelof van der Merwe, kept up the
hope. Van Jaarsveld fell soon after reaching to his century, top-edging
an Ishwar Pandey slower delivery to mid-off, effectively ending South
Africa's challenge, as India mopped up the remaining batsmen quickly.
However, on a batsman's day, Dhawan's knock proved to be the difference.
Devashish Fuloria is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
Feeds: Devashish Fuloria
© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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