50 overs India A 433 for 3 (Dhawan 248, Pujara 109*) v South Africa A

In what is a do-or-die match for both teams, Shikhar Dhawan completed a marathon that started with efficient Mo Farah-esque strides and ended with an Usain Bolt-esque burst, helping India A post a giddying 433 for 3 against South Africa A in Pretoria. He contributed 248 of those runs – the second-highest List-A score ever.

Dhawan arrived at the century-mark off 86 balls with a straight-driven boundary in the 27th over, but found his nitro booster to rocket from there on. In the 28th over, he smashed his first six, off Juan Theron, and immediately followed it with another, signalling the start off a unprecedented attack.

Cheteshwar Pujara quietly brought up his own fifty off 54 balls in a massive stand but the projected team total was constantly being readjusted to higher levels as Dhawan kept finding the boundaries. His second hundred came at almost double the rate as his first, taking 46 balls, as he smashed his way to becoming only the third Indian to record a double-century in limited-overs cricket after Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar. But with 10 overs still left when he got past that mark, the 11-year-old record of the highest List-A score of 268 looked well within his reach. He fell 20 runs short of it to finish second best. This, however, is the best-ever individual effort in an A game. Pujara’s unbeaten 109 off 97 seemed mild in comparison

INDIA A BATTING

India A innings (50 overs maximum)		Runs	M	B	4s	6s	SR
	S Dhawan	c †Vilas b Theron	248	194	150	30	7	165.33
	M Vijay	c †Vilas b BE Hendricks	40	51	37	7	0	108.10
	CA Pujara*	not out	109	169	97	8	0	112.37
	SK Raina	c van der Merwe b Viljoen	6	6	4	1	0	150.00
	KD Karthik†	not out	18	20	12	0	1	150.00
	Extras	(b 1, lb 2, w 9)	12
	Total	(3 wickets; 50 overs; 221 mins)	433	(8.66 runs per over)

SOUTH AFRICA BOWLING

Source: CRICINFO