DRAW LIKELY AS RAIN DISRUPTS THIRD DAY OF UNOFFICIAL TEST

Fast bowlers Ankit Rajpoot and Mohammed Siraj were among the wickets as South Africa A went to stumps at 294/7 on a rain-hit third day of the second four-day unofficial ‘Test’ against India A in Bengaluru on Sunday.

Light drizzle in the morning forced play to begin almost three hours after scheduled start. Lunch too was taken early.

Resuming at 219/3, overnight batsmen Rassie van der Dussen (22) and Rudie Second (47) couldn’t add much to their team’s score as Rajpoot removed both in quick succession. Dwaine Pretorious, who has played 12 ODIs and two T20Is for South Africa, could managed just 10 before becoming off-spinner Jayant Yadav’s first victim of the match.

Dane Piedt (22) then put on a 40-run partnership with No 5 batsman Senuran Muthusamy before Siraj got the better of Piedt for his second scalp. No play was possible after that, meaning the visitors were still 51 runs behind India A’s first innings total of 345.

Leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, who took two wickets on the second day, didn’t have any success in the 32.4 overs possible on day 3.

Chahal was included for this series to see if the wrist-spinner is ready to bowl in the longer format, with an eye on the ongoing Test series in England.

The first ‘Test’ between both the sides was a draw.

NEW DELHI:

Brief scores: India A 345 (Hanuma Vihari 148, Ankit Bawne 80; Duanne Olivier 6-63) lead South Africa A 294/7 (Zubayr Hamza 93, Sarel Erwee 58; Mohammed Siraj 2-58) by 51 runs.