Finally, the rains arrived.
It had been something of a miracle that the impact of rain was virtually nil in the two-match unofficial Test series between India ‘A’ and South Africa ‘A’. This is still the rainy season in Kerala and more so in Wayanad, which is known for its steady, unremitting showers that go on and on at this time of the year; that is what happened for much of Thursday morning.
That meant there were just 22 overs of cricket on the third day of the second unofficial Test at the Wayanad Cricket Stadium. At the end of it, the host took its first innings score to 417 for eight, ensuring that there could only be one decisive result in this match, and thus the series.
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The Indians go into the final day with a lead of 157 runs. They would have enough time to try to bowl the visiting team out on Friday, if there is not much rain. That is a rather big if, of course.
With India ‘A’ playing three spinners on a track that began spinning from day one, it would be with high hopes that the team would wait for the final day to dawn. The situation was just the reverse at this stage in the last game, with South Africa ‘A’ in the driving seat.
India had found a saviour in Karun Nair, who scored a match-saving hundred and earned a flight ticket to Colombo to join the Indian Test squad. There are enough candidates in this strong South African batting line-up to play a similar role, but they will have to handle the Indian spinning trio of Axar Patel, Jayant Yadav and Karn Sharma better than they did in the first innings.
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Axar the batsman stole the show on Thursday. It was his confident knock of 69 not out (93b, 110m, 10x4, 2x6) that helped India turn its first innings lead from a decent one to a potentially match-winning.
The left-hander played a few delightful strokes, including a straight drive and an on-drive in one over off pacer Hardus Viljoen. He also hit a couple of sixes, on either side of the wicket, off off-spinner Dane Piedt, as he equalled his highest first class score of 69 not out for Gujarat against Haryana at Ahmedabad in the 2013-14 Ranji Trophy.
His unbroken ninth-wicket stand with Karn Sharma (19 not out) is 69. The Indians had slumped to 348 for eight after resuming at 342 for six. Play could begin only at 1.30 p.m., as it had begun to rain from nine in the morning. The players went off again because of rain after just four overs, during which Viljoen found the edge of Ankush Bains (35) and Piedt bowled Jayant Yadav (0) with a lovely off-break.
That was the fifth wicket for Piedt, the second time he has done this in the series. It was a marathon spell for him though, as he claimed five for 191 from 45 overs.
The scores: South Africa ‘A’ — 1st Innings: 260.
India ‘A’ — 1st Innings: Jiwanjot Singh c Vilas b Tsotsobe 52, Abhinav Mukund lbw b Piedt 72, B. Aparajith c Ramela b Piedt 34, S. Jackson b Piedt 25, A. Rayudu c Bavuma b Piedt 71, Vijay Shankar c Vilas b Tsotsobe 21, A. Bains c Reeza Hendricks b Viljoen 35, Axar Patel (batting) 69, Jayant Yadav b Piedt 0, Karn Sharma (batting) 19; Extras (b-14, lb-3, nb-2): 19; Total (for eight wickets in 110 overs): 417.
Fall of wickets: 1-96, 2-168, 3-169, 4-224, 5-253, 6-309, 7-347, 8-348.
South Africa ‘A’ bowling: Tsotsobe 22-6-52-2, Viljoen 27-7-89-1, Beuran Hendricks 3-0-11-0, Piedt 45-4-191-5, van Zyl 11-2-33-0, Ramela 1-0-15-0, de Kock 1-0-9-0.