For the first time in this ‘Test’ series, South Africa-A got on top of the hosts both with bat and ball, as it gained upper hand on the second day here at the Alur ground on Saturday.
Led by pacer Duane Olivier, SA-A ran through the India-A batting line-up bundling out the home team for 345 after it resumed the day on 322 for four.
In reply, Zubayr Hamza (93, 125b, 15x4) and opener Sarel Erwee (58) came together for a flawless 154-run partnership for the second wicket to help the visitors end the day on 219 for three as rain curtailed play in the last hour of the day.
ADVERTISEMENT
Under overcast conditions and an eight-over old ball, Olivier wreaked havoc with a probing line outside off stump picking five wickets in just about an hour to finish with figures of six for 63.
It started when K.S. Bharat inside-edged on to his stumps off Olivier before Jayant Yadav too was dismissed leg-before.
At the other end, Nortje accounted for centurion Hanuma Vihari who was caught in the slips, two short of a what would have been a well made 150. Olivier then cleaned up the tail quickly as India-A lost its last six wickets for just eight runs slumping from 337 for four to 345.
ADVERTISEMENT
In reply, after losing Pieter Malan off the first ball, Hamza and Erwee counter-attacked to blunt the hosts. The duo scored briskly picking boundaries at ease and scoring at more than four runs per over.
Hamza who walked in at three, made his intentions clear in the first over itself striking two boundaries, one straight down the ground and another through the cover point region to get going. By lunch, he quickly raced to 25 off 33 balls with five boundaries.
Post lunch, Hamza continued where he left off driving the fast bowlers and easily playing off-spinner Yadav as he reached his half-century off just 57 balls.
At the other end, the left-handed Erwee too got going with a beautiful pull shot for a six off Siraj over fine leg. Erwee was not afraid to use his feet and sent Chahal over the long on boundary for his second six.
But Chahal found his groove tossing a few and finding some turn as he scalped both Hamza, caught driving at slips and Erwee, trapped leg-before.
Score: India-A: Prithvi Shaw c Second b Nortje 16, Mayank Agarwal c Hamza b Olivier 0, G Hanuma Vihari c Hamza b Nortje 148, Shreyas Iyer c Van Der Dussen b Muthusamy 39, Ankeet Bawane st Second b Piedt 80, K.S. Bharat b Olivier 34, Jayant Yadav lbw Olivier 1, Yuzvendra Chahal c Malan b Olivier 1, Mohammed Siraj c Van Der Dussen b Olivier 4, Navdeep Saini not out 0, Ankit Rajpoot b Olivier 0; Extras (nb-8, w-2, b-7, lb-5) 22; Total (all out in 101 overs) 345.
Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-18, 3-80, 4-257, 5-337, 6-340, 7-340, 8-344, 9-345.
South Africa-A bowling: Olivier 24-6-63-6, Nortje 22-5-69-2, Nabe 10-2-46-0, Pretorius 17-1-58-0, Muthusamy 12-2-51-1, Piedt 16-0-46-1.
South Africa-A: Pieter Malan lbw Siraj 0, Sarel Erwee lbw Chahal 58, Zubayr Hamza c Shreyas Iyer b Chahal 93, Hendrik Van Der Dussen (batting) 18, Rudi Second (batting) 35; Extras (nb-13, lb-2) 15; Total (for three wickets in 59.5 overs) 219.
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-154, 3-163.
India-A bowling: Siraj 11.5-1-51-1, Saini 12-5-28-0, Rajpoot 10-2-36-0, Yadav 9-1-40-0, Chahal 17-1-62-2.