Ton-up Panchal finds his touch

On a day when both teams had little to fight for, Priyank Panchal and Karun Nair stole the show here at the SDNRW stadium on Friday.

Panchal, coming into the tie with a string of low scores, finally found form with a 109-run knock (192b, 9x4, 4x6). Karun Nair, who is in fine touch, remained unbeaten on 51 (99b, 4x4) as India A, overnight 14/0, declared at 202/3 against South Africa A at the stroke of tea on the fourth and final day, setting an improbable target of 219. With a draw being the only possibility, both teams decided to shake hands.

India A, who had won the first tie in Thiruvananthapuram, thus clinched the two-match series 1-0. South Africa A captain Aiden Markram, for his brilliant 161 that bailed the visitors out of trouble, was adjudged the man of the match. India A had won the preceding five-match one-day series 4-1.

Only 15 of the 64 overs of the day were bowled by pacers as South Africa A attacked with their spinners. But it didn’t trouble openers Abhimanyu Easwaran (37) and Panchal, who stitched a 94-run stand.

South Africa got the breakthrough when Easwaran was bowled while trying to cut a Dane Piedt (2/88) delivery. Shubman Gill, the next man in, was dismissed tamely, hitting straight to short mid-on, to give Piedt his second wicket.

Panchal launched his assault against the spinners. The Gujarat batsman smashed two sixes off Piedt and then struck one each to Markram and Senuran Muthusamy. Dancing down the track, the right-hander drove through the cover to reach his ton. His 261-minute stay ended when he went for another big hit only to offer a catch back to bowler Muthusamy.

Nair dominated the spinners with his inside-out strokes and reached his half-century with a cracking cut off part-time off-break bowler Khaya Zondo.

Shitanshu Kotak, who replaced the current National Cricket Academy chief Rahul Dravid as head coach of India A, said: “For India hopefuls and those already in the Test squad, this was an ideal preparation. We tried to get these players in the right mindset and slightly fine-tuned their techniques.”

The former Saurashtra batsman was pleased with the scheduling of the A tours. “Every senior tour is preceded by the A tour, which is great. For example, in this match, we lost the toss and were put in to bat. The conditions heavily favoured the pacers. “But our top-four did very well to see off the danger. “If the same situation happens in an international match, our players will be ready for it,” he explained.

Brief scores: India ‘A’: 417 all out in 123 overs & (O/n: 14/0): 202/3 decl in 70 overs (Priyank Panchal 109, Abhimanyu Easwaran 37, Karun Nair 51 not out; Dane Piedt 2-88) drew with South Africa A: 400 all out in 109.3 overs.