Manish Pandey led from the front with a 59-ball 81 © Getty

Manish Pandey starred with a quickfire 81 as India A took an unassailable lead in the five-match unofficial ODI series against the visiting South Africa A courtesy a four-wicket win in Game 3 at Thiruvananthapuram on Monday (September 2).

Set a target of 208 in 30 overs, in the rain-curtailed contest, the Indian skipper led the team's recovery after a top-order failure, putting them on course to wrap up the proceedings with 13 balls to spare.

Rain continued to play spoilsport for the third game on the trot, reducing this one to 30-overs-a-side affair in which the visitors opted to bat first. Nearly every top-order batsman got starts for South Africa but fell in 20s and 30s. It was Heinrich Klaasen's 21-ball knock of 44 - that comprised four sixes - that gave the visitors momentum in the finishing overs.

While Shivam Dube and Shardul Thakur proved really expensive for India - leaking 77 runs in their eight overs combined - Deepak Chahar and Krunal Pandya were the pick of the bowlers with two scalps each as the tourists were kept to a modest 207 for 8 from their 30-over quota.

India's chase got off to an ominous start with Anrich Nortje dismissing both Ruturaj Gaikwad and Ricky Bhui in the space of three deliveries in the second over, with India A's score stuck on 5. Junior Dala lent another blow soon after as he took out Pandya for just 13.

Ishan Kishan, who saw the carnage from one end, then joined hands with Pandey to resurrect the chase. The pair added 70 runs for the fourth wicket partnership, with the wicketkepeer falling 10 short of his fifty. However, Pandey carried on and raised his first half-century of the series . He put on 37 runs for the fifth wicket with Nitish Rana before adding another 41 runs for the sixth wicket with Dube.

Dube, in fact, made up for the runs he leaked earlier in the day with a brisk 45 not out off just 28 deliveries to help India finish in style. The hosts required 17 off the final three overs but Dube knocked it off all by himself. He slammed Nortje for a boundary, sandwiched between a couple of sixes to knockoff the target in the 28th over itself.

Brief scores: South Africa A 207/8 in 30 overs (Heinrich Klaasen 44; Krunal Pandya 2-23, Deepak Chahar 2-42) lost to India A 208/6 in 27.5 overs (Manish Pandey 81, Shivan Duve 45*; Anrich Nortje 2-41, George Linde 2-41) by four wickets (match reduced to 30 overs per side due to wet outfield).