India A battling to save four-dayer at Bloemfontein
Staff Reporter - 8 April 2002

India A were battling to save their second four-dayer against South Africa A at the end of the third day's play at Bloemfontein. They will begin the final day 91 runs in the arrears with seven second innings wickets in hand.

South Africa A, who began the day on 313 for four, were well-served by overnight not out batsmen Hashim Amla and Robin Peterson. The duo added a further 80 runs before Amla fell to left-arm spinner Murali Kartik. The 19-year-old KwaZulu-Natal batsman, who has had an impressive season, made a sedate 82 off 191 balls with seven fours.

Peterson, however, ploughed on to raise his maiden first-class hundred. The southpaw, who hit as many as 16 boundaries in a 251-minute stay, made 108 before becoming Kartik's second victim of the day.

The Indian left-arm spinner, who had earlier top-scored in the Indian first-innings, bowled a teasing line and length to snare two more wickets before the end of the hosts' innings. Medium-pacer Debasis Mohanty was the other successful bowler on the day for India, claiming the last two South Africa A wickets.

The hosts, then, made 469 in their first innings, gaining a healthy lead of 178. For India, Kartik claimed six wickets for 101 runs while Mohanty, for his part, claimed three wickets.

India A, who were batting to save the match, saw their second innings get off to a terrible start. Gautam Gambhir, the India A opener, who had scored a double-hundred in Zimbabwe's tour-opener in India, was trapped lbw by Andre Nel for 9 with the score on 18 in the ninth over.

Fortunately, the other opener Amit Pagnis, made a handy 27, putting on 47 runs for the second wicket with his vice-captain Mohammad Kaif to save the tourists from falling into dire straits.

However, the almost immediate loss of India A captain Jacob Martin, who has been having a dreadful run with the bat, meant that Kaif, batting on 39, and Yuvraj Singh, batting on seven, were saddled with the onerous responsibility of bailing the Indians out when play resumes on Monday.

The two men, who have both turned out for India, will know that they have to bat out at least two sessions on the final day to save the match and would be hoping to put their best foot forward as early blows could devastate their team's chances of saving the match.

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