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India 'A' pacers blunt South Africa 'A'

India 'A' pacers led by Mohammed Siraj limit South Africa 'A' to 246 for eight on the first day of the four day game

Pacer Mohammed Siraj of India A grabbed three wickets against South Africa A

Bengaluru, August 4: Perhaps, the South Africa 'A' batsmen were too focused on negating spinners Yuzvendra Chahal and Axar Patel, they failed to handle the India 'A' pacers coming up with a well below par effort on the first day of the four-day game here at the M Chinnaswamy stadium on Saturday (August 4).

On a day when conditions remained largely overcast, India 'A' pacers stuck to a fine length to restrict their counterparts from South Africa to 246 for eight. The visitors' fight came through Rudi Second (94, 139b, 12x4) and opener Seral Erwee 47 (120b, 7x4) but rest of the batsmen failed to capitalise on their starts.

The India 'A' pace troika of Mohammed Siraj, who is coming from successful trip to England where he picked up 15 wickets from four innings against the West Indies 'A' and the England Lions, Rajneesh Gurbani and Nitin Saini found the right length from the word go. They did not allow room for South Africans to free their arms forcing several of them to reach out to the ball and it amply reflected in six of them perishing to either wicketkeeper KS Bharath or in the slip cordon.

Among the three, Siraj easily was the stand out bowler taking three wickets conceding 56 runs from 20 overs as the right-arm pacer kept the ball full and elicited swing. In his first spell (6-2-13-2), Siraj grabbed the wickets of opener Pieter Malan and Zubayr Hamza, who had made a hundred against the Board President's XI last week, and from that point there was no respite for the South Africa 'A'. The only blip from their part was Saini resorted to a slew of short-pitched balls when the ideal way for him was to keep the ball up and make it swing.

In fact, it was a huge climb down for them as they had amassed an imposing 389 for two on day one against the Board President's XI at the same venue. But on this day, against a much more accurate set of bowlers and under gray skies they struggled to get a move on and it did not help that the surface slowed down a touch in the post lunch session.

There were only two meaningful partnerships - an even 50 for the third wicket between Khaya Zondo and Erwee and a 59 between Second and Senuran Muthuswamy - and it mirrored their day too - sub par.

Brief scores: South Africa A: 246/8 in 88 overs (Rudi Second 94, Seral Erwee 47; Mohammed Siraj 3-56, Rajneesh Gurbani 2-47, Nitin Saini 2-47) vs India A.

Story first published: Saturday, August 4, 2018, 18:21 [IST]
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