Ton-up Manish Pandey: Great to be back in Australia

Manish Pandey continued his love affair with Australia by compiling an unbeaten century to guide India 'A' to three wicket win over South Africa 'A' Pandey, who was handed the captaincy only a couple of days before the tour, proved his credentials as a leader and finisher as he calmly guided India 'A' to a total of 231 with eight balls to spare

Townsville (Australia): Manish Pandey continued his love affair with Australia by compiling an unbeaten century to guide India 'A' to three wicket win over South Africa 'A' Pandey, who was handed the captaincy only a couple of days before the tour, proved his credentials as a leader and finisher as he calmly guided India 'A' to a total of 231 with eight balls to spare.

Earlier this year, at the Sydney Cricket Ground, Pandey had scored a maiden ODI hundred and in the process mastered the craft of chasing down a total under pressure.

Past experience helped
After the match, Pandey stated he had gained enormous confidence from his knock in January and was waiting for another opportunity to carry on his good form down under.

"It is lovely to be back in Australia. I like the wickets here, there is a bit in it for the bowlers with the new ball but once you get set the ball comes on nicely and it suits my game."

Pandey was one of the 10 Indian batsmen that failed to get into double digits in the first game as India was skittled out for paltry total of 55 against Australia 'A'.

"It was the first game, we had to get used to the conditions, there were some jitters, this time I just had to take my time and we spoke about that leading into this match and it paid off."

While Pandey was the star of the day with the bat, he was also quick to acknowledge the efforts of his bowlers, who had restricted South Africa to 230, when at one stage it seemed inevitable David Miller (90 from 104 balls) would take them to score excess of 250.

"We thought 250 was on the cards but full credit to our bowlers (Dhawal and Chahal) they got rid of Miller and then never allowed any partnerships to develop and at the end it made the difference."

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