Usman Khawaja (101 n.o., 93b, 10x4, 1x6) and Jack Wildermuth (62 n.o., 42b, 5x4, 3x6) masterminded a spectacular jailbreak at Alur grounds to put Australia-A in the final of the Quadrangular Series one-day tournament.
In Wednesday's final, it will meet India-B, the same side it beat so thrillingly by five wickets on Monday (D/L method). Needing 19 from the final over, skipper Manish Pandey looked to Prasidh Krishna, who came into the match on the back of consecutive four-wicket hauls.
But all-rounder Wildermuth hit boundaries off the third and fifth balls to bring the equation down to five runs off the last ball before flat-batting the final delivery for a massive six over mid-wicket.
The result also shut the door on South Africa-A, which, after having lost its first two matches, beat India-A by four wickets (and a bonus point) to leapfrog into the second position (on Net Run Rate) for a brief while.
Australia, chasing a stiff 277-run target – later revised to 247 from 40 overs owing to rain – looked down and out at 155 for five, with the required rate nearly nine runs an over.
But Khawaja and Wildermuth stitched together an unbroken 93-run stand, including 65 off the final five overs.
For India-B, Pandey continued his scoring spree with an unbeaten 117 (109b, 7x4, 3x6). This after Mayank Agarwal (36, 48b) and Ishan Kishan (31, 57b) provided a solid foundation by playing through a testing early morning phase during which there was considerable help for pacemen Billy Stanlake and Jhye Richardson. In the end, it all came to nought.
South Africa-A trumps India-B
At the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, pacer Dane Paterson returned figures of five for 19 in South Africa-A's four-wicket victory over India-B.
Under overcast conditions, the home batsmen had no answer to the visitor's swing and seam, as it slumped to 31 for four. The pick of the wickets was Robbie Frylinck castling skipper Shreyas Iyer with a yorker off a knuckleball.
Sanju Samson (36, 42b) and Deepak Chahar (38,42b) did put together 64 runs for the sixth wicket but the moment the latter fell to a spectacular catch by Pieter Malan at backward point, it signalled the end. Paterson returned to clean up the tail (2.3-0-9-3) which included a diving caught-and-bowled effort to dismiss Shivam Mavi. The South Africans' chase was merely academic.
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