Close India 245 for 7 (Yuvraj Singh 46*, A Kumble 1*) beat South Africa A (241 for 6) by 3 wickets A magnificent allround display from Ajit Agarkar propelled India to an exciting 3-wicket victory in their warm-up game against South Africa A at Benoni. He followed up a disciplined spell with the ball that had yielded figures of 10-0-46-3 with a blistering knock of 49 off only 43 balls to see India home after they had slumped to 156 for 6 chasing 242 for victory. Yuvraj Singh, with a neatly compiled 46, was the perfect foil - his flashing cut shot past point sealing the win with five balls to spare.

The South African A side put up a competitive total despite appearing to be frozen pillars of salt when facing Anil Kumble. After Boeta Dippenaar and Jacques Rudolph had got them off to a cracking start – with 62 runs in 11 overs - the hosts ran into the proverbial brick wall against Kumble's leg-spin. It took a scintillating innings from Gerald Dros - 85 from 86 balls - to shock the scorers out of the Kumble-enforced stupor. Martin van Jaarsveld chipped in with a valuable 69 as both batsmen took a heavy toll on the part-time Indian bowlers. Apart from Kumble - who finished with Scrooge-like figures of 10-4-15-1, the other bowlers flattered to deceive, with Srinath's wayward profligacy a particular cause for concern. The much-maligned Agarkar, a last-minute replacement for Ashish Nehra was a notable exception.

India's push for victory - lacking some dash from the absence through injury of Tendulkar and Ganguly - was all crests and troughs. After Justin Kemp had cleaned up both the makeshift openers, Shiv Sunder Das and Virender Sehwag, Jacob Martin and Rahul Dravid put on 91 for the third wicket. Martin's 54 - before being run out by Dippenaar - was an assured knock and marked a welcome return to the international arena.

The impressive Roger Telemachus came back to castle Dravid and it was game on. Langeveldt got rid of Sodhi, and Telemachus sent back Deep Dasgupta to leave India with one knee on the canvas. Cue Agarkar and Yuvraj and a partnership that raced along at seven an over. Telemachus got Agarkar one short of a richly deserved fifty - caught in the deep by substitute fielder Mornantau Hayward - but by then the fat lady was fairly shrieking.

Some encouraging signs for India, most of all from the performance of Agarkar. Mind you, Kallis, Donald, Rhodes, Pollock and Klusener await them on Friday. After playing cowboys and Indians in the garden, it's time for the real skirmishes to start.

50 overs South Africa A 241 for 6 (M van Jaarsveld 69, G Dros 85, A Agarkar 3-46) v India

South Africa A ended their innings at Benoni with a competitive 241, thanks mainly to a wonderful 85 off 86 balls by Gerald Dros. But touring teams use these warm-up matches almost exclusively to assess individual form. So while Anil Kumble (10-4-15-1) indicated that India can, at long last, go into a one-day tournament with a spearhead, Javagal Srinath (9-0-58-1) suggested that much of the rust still needed to be scraped off.  Meanwhile Ajit Agarkar virtually picked himself for Friday's opening one-dayer against South Africa at Johannesburg by taking three wickets.

South Africa A did well to reach 241 after they had almost come to a standstill following a brisk start. Dros and Martin van Jaarsveld (69 off 101 balls) had revived the steadily decelerating innings with a 117-run fourth-wicket partnership, at almost five an over. They did the wise thing by seeing off Kumble, and proceeded to milk the part-timers – Reetinder Sodhi, Yuvraj Singh and Virender Sehwag – for 73 runs in 12 overs to lay the platform for a final assault.

But with the score on 192, van Jaarsveld flicked Harvinder Singh to Rahul Dravid at midwicket, and in the following over Justin Ontong's expansive drive off Agarkar caught the edge and sailed through to the keeper. Dros, who had only made 56 when the fourth wicket fell, smashed 29 off his last 19 balls before holing out to Sodhi off Srinath.

25 overs South Africa A 91 for 3 (van Jaarsveld 22*, Dros 4*)

After an encouraging performance in a festival match on Monday, Anil Kumble confirmed his return to top-flight cricket with a spell of 7-4-5-1 against South Africa A at Benoni in India's last warm-up before the triangular series on Friday. From 61 without loss in the 11th over, South Africa A limped to 91 for 3 by the halfway stage.

The innings had started familiarly enough for the Indians: Javagal Srinath, pitching relentlessly short, went for 17 in his first two overs. His new-ball partner, Harvinder Singh, was typically inconsistent as some blistering shots from Boeta Dippenaar and Jacques Rudolph brought up the fifty in the eighth over.

A double change by Rahul Dravid, to Kumble and Ajit Agarkar, turned the innings on its head. Agarkar persuaded Dippenaar to guide a shortish delivery to Dravid at first slip for a 34 off 30 balls. In the next over, Kumble had Rudolph caught behind by Deep Dasgupta, the new wicketkeeper, for 25.

The early wicket encouraged Kumble to find a metronomical groove and by his fifth over he had bowled three maidens and conceded only three runs. HD Ackerman eked out only one run in his first 20 balls before edging Agarkar to the keeper. Martin van Jaarsveld and Gerald Dros began a slow rebuilding process, but the Indians clearly held the edge.

South Africa A 1 Boeta Dippenaar, 2 Jacques Rudolph, 3 Martin van Jaarsveld, 4 HD Ackerman (capt), 5 Gerald Dros, 6 Justin Ontong, 7 Justin Kemp, 8 Thami Tsolekile (wkt), 9 Roger Telemachus, 10 Charl Langeveldt, 11 Jon Kent.

India 1 Shiv Sunder Das, 2 Virender Sehwag, 3 Rahul Dravid (capt), 4 Jacob Martin, 5 Yuvraj Singh, 6 Reetinder Singh Sodhi, 7 Deep Dasgupta (wkt), 8 Ajit Agarkar, 9 Anil Kumble, 10 Javagal Srinath, 11 Harvinder Singh.

Look out for live coverage of South Africa v India at Wisden.com from Friday.

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