India A bowlers established a grip over South Africa A on Day 1 of the second unofficial Test, played a the LC de Villiers Oval at Pretoria. At stumps, the hosts were 231 for six, mainly due to a late-order flourish from Wayne Parnell (64*) and Simon Harmer (68*).

After winning the toss, South Africa A had lost their top six batsmen after 34 overs with 97 runs on the board. The damage was done by pacer Ishwar Pandey (16-3-49-2) and Parvez Rasool (18-6-39-2). Siddharth Kaul and Shahbaz Nadeem claimed a wicket each.

However, an unbeaten 134-run stand for the seventh wicket between Parnell and Harmer saved South Africa A’s day.

It was Kaul who provided India A the first breakthrough, in the fourth over by dismissing opener Dean Elgar for a duck. Pandey then struck in the fifth and the seventh overs to get rid of Reeza Hendericks (2) and Rilee Russouw (3) respectively.

With his team on 11 for three, the in-form Temba Bavuma (46) set out building partnerships with Justin Ontong (28) and then Thami Tsolekile (13), before being dismissed by Rasool.

The Indian bowlers toiled hard after that as Parnell and Harmer went about reconstructing the South Africa A innings until stumps were drawn on Day 1 after 81.3 overs.

Brief Scores:

Day 1 – SA A 231/6 in 81.3 overs (Harmer 68*; Rasool 2/39)