India A vs West Indies A: Manish Pandey's ton, Krunal Pandya's fifer help team take unassailable 3-0 lead in one-day series

India A took an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match unofficial 50-over series against West Indies A after a massive 148-run victory at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua. Manish Pandey, the captain, top-scored with an 87 ball 100 and was ably supported by Shubman Gill with 77 runs.

With 295/6 after batting first, India A’s bowling dismantled the hosts’ chase by dismissing them for 147. Krunal Pandya posted figures of 5/25 from seven overs.

The collection of runs and wickets come at a time when selectors are looking at options for the upcoming series against West Indies. The selectors are due to meet on 19 July to finalise the squad that will take on West Indies having exited in the semi-finals of the World Cup.

Having won the toss, India A opted to bat and made a woeful start with Anmolpreet Singh walking back after a duck in the third over. Gill and Shreyas Iyer forged a 109 partnership with the latter scoring 47 off 69 balls.

After Iyer departed, Pandey and Gill took charge of the batting effort. They, too, put together a 100 run stand to take the team near 250.

Pandey’s attempted surge late on was arrested by Romario Shepherd who got him leg before in the last over of the innings. With the late dismissal of a well-set batsman, India A couldn’t take their tally past 300.

With West Indies selectors also looking on, John Campbell and Sunil Ambris provided a bright start with 51 runs for the first wicket. But that is as good as it got for West Indies A. They went from 51/0 to 117/9 with Krunal, Washington Sundar and Hanuma Vihari running through the middle and lower order.

Keemo Paul tried to save face with some big blows and the top-score of 34 runs from 16 balls taking his side to 147. Vihari got the job done with Paul the last man to fall.

India A had won the first two unofficial ODIs by 65 runs each on both instances. The fourth and fifth unofficial matches will be played on 19 July and 21 July in Coolidge.

Brief scores: India A: 295/6 (Manish Pandey 100, Shubman Gill 77; Rahkeem Cornwall 2/37) beat West Indies A: 147 (Keemo Paul 34, Sunil Ambris 30; Krunal Pandya 5/25, Hanuma Vihari 2/23) by 148 runs.