Impressive India A thrashed South Africa A by an innings and 30 runs in the first unofficial Test of the two-match unofficial Test series, thanks to Mayank Agarwal’s double-century, Prithvi Shaw’s century and Mohammed Siraj’s 10-wicket haul.
The match was played at Bengaluru where South Africa A decided to bat first after winning the toss. With the help of wicketkeeper Rudi Second’s 94 runs knock, South Africa A only managed to score 246 runs in their first innings. The second highest scorer in that innings was the opener Sarel Erwee with 47 runs knock.
The 24-year-old right-arm pacer Mohammed Siraj shined in both innings as he was the highest wicket-taker for India A in both innings. In the first innings, Siraj had a bowling figure of 5/56. Other pacers Navdeep Saini (2/47) and Rajneesh Gurbani (2/47) picked up two wickets each while the leggie Yuzvendra Chahal (1/54) claimed one wicket.
In reply, India A managed to put a big total of 584/8 decl. on the board at the end of their first innings. Both the openers Prithvi Shaw and Mayank Agarwal reached the three figures in that innings. The openers put a giant 277-run opening partnership before Shaw was dismissed on 136 runs (20 fours and only six).
Agarwal stretched his innings for the longer period and completed his double-century. He finally lost his wicket after scoring 220 runs (31 fours and 4 sixes).
Meanwhile, Ravikumar Samarth scored 37 runs while the skipper Shreyas Iyer was caught behind for 24 runs. The next two India A batsmen Hanuma Vihari (54) and the wicketkeeper Srikar Bharat (64) scored half-centuries while Axar Patel remained unbeaten on 33 runs. At the end of that innings, India A took a giant lead of 338 runs.
In that innings, the left-arm South African pacer Beuran Hendricks (3/98) picked up three wickets while another pacer Duanne Olivier (2/88) and the off-spinner Dane Piedt (2/92) claimed two wickets each.
In the second innings, South Africa A was bundled out for 308 runs, after a poor start of 6/3. Wicketkeeper Rudi Second was again dismissed on 94 runs while the no.3 batsman Zubayr Hamza played a 63-run knock and Shaun von Berg scored 50 runs.
Among the India A pacer, Mohammed Siraj (5/73) picked up five wickets again in that innings as he completed the 10-wicket haul in this match. Moreover, Rajneesh Gurbani (2/45) got two wickets while Navdeep Saini (1/24), Axar Patel (1/43) and Yuzvendra Chahal (1/85) claimed one wicket each.
