Wildermuth's last-ball six overpowers Pandey ton, Australia A advance to final

Queensland all-rounder Jack Wildermuth did a Dinesh Karthik by hitting a last-ball six to win the match and seal a berth in the final of the Quadrangular series for Australia A when five runs were needed off one ball against India B at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.

Queensland all-rounder Jack Wildermuth did a Dinesh Karthik by hitting a last-ball six to win the match and seal a berth in the final of the Quadrangular series for Australia A when five runs were needed off one ball against India B at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.

Austraila A will meet India B again on Wednesday in the final to be played at Chinnaswamy stadium here, while South Africa A and India A will fight for the third position on the same day.

Australia A needed to beat India B to advance to the finals and Wildermuth rose to the occasion in a rain-affected one-dayer overshadowing India B captain Manish Pandey's brilliant hundred earlier in the day. The tall 24-year-old Queenslander, who is better known for his bowling skills did no harm to his reputation as a batsman by slamming a 62 off 42 balls, which was studded with five boundaries and three sixes.

Requiring 19 off the last over, Wildermuth hit two fours and a six off the ball of India's Prasidh Krishna to seal a thrilling win for Australia. 

The right-hander had put on an important of 93 with Usman Khawaja, outscoring the out-of-favour Aussie Test specialist. Australia A chased down the truncated target of 247 in 40 overs.

Wildermuth’s blitz was foiled around a calm and well-constructed hundred by Khawaja, who is desperate to make a comeback in the Australian side.

Khawaja remained unbeaten on 101 off just 93 balls with ten boundaries and a six. Khawaja and Alex Carey gave a perfect start to Australia A as they stitched 77 runs for the first wicket in 13.1 overs.

Captain Travis Head left Khawaja after scoring just five and then Peter Handscomb added to the woes by scoring just two off six balls, leaving the team struggling at 95 for three in 19 overs.

Marnus Labuschagne (13) and Ashton Agar (15) also could not stay long with Khawaja.

It was then left to Khawaja and Wildermuth to take the team to victory, but not before rain reduced the innings to 40 overs.

Jalaj Saxena grabbed two wickets while Shreyas Gopal, Deepak Hooda and Kulwant Khejroliya picked one wicket each.

Earlier, India B posted 276 for 6, riding on Manish Pandey's brilliant unbeaten century.

Pandey cracked a superlative 117 not out from 109 balls, a knock studded by seven boundaries and three sixes.

Pandey, who came into bat at 64 for 2 in the 15th over, lost Ishan Kishan (31) and Kedar Jadhav (5) but stitched an 84-run partnership with Deepak Hooda (30) for the fifth wicket.

Jalaj Saxena made 18 and Shreyas Gopal an unbeaten 12, in company of Pandey.

Pacer Michael Neser was the most successful bowler for Australia A as he bagged three wickets for 47 runs in nine overs.

In the other match of the day, South Africa A defeated India A by 4 wickets, after the visitors raced past 158 runs target in 37.4 overs.

Batting first, India B were skittled out for 157 in 37.3 overs, with Sanju Samson (36) and Deepak Chahar (38) being the only two batsmen who showed some application to post a respectable target.

Seven batsmen, including Ambati Rayudu and Shreyas Iyer, failed to get to double digits.

Dane Paterson's five-for ripped apart India A as he finished with match-winning figures of five for 19 with two maidens in it.

Sisanda Magala and Robert Frylinckb bagged two wickets each.

In reply, South Africa A rode on Pieter Malan's 47-run knock to take the total to 103 for four in 27.2 overs, requiring 56 runs in remaining overs.

However, they lost two more wickets of Paterson (12) and Senuran Muthusamy (16), before South Africa A could pull off an easy victory.

K Khaleel Ahmed bagged three wickets, while Krunal Pandya claimed two. Mayank Markande scalped one.