India 'A' tail fight back at Bloemfontein

Contrary to expectations, the India 'A' batting has found little problem in adjusting to the quicker pitches on their tour of South Africa. Their performance on the first day of their four-day match against South Africa 'A' at Bloemfontein, in fact, was one of their more disappointing displays of the tour.

Batting first after winning the toss, India 'A' lost an early wicket in the in-form Gautam Gambhir, trapped in front by David Terbrugge for two. But Mohammad Kaif, who has been the best batsman for the tourists, and Amit Pagnis then put on a minor stand of 30 runs before the former was out lbw to Dewald Pretorius for 15.

The situation grew dicier as skipper Jacob Martin offered a catch to his counterpart, Hylton Ackerman, off Pretorius and departed for six, yet another low score in what has not been a good tour for him.

Yuvraj Singh then joined Pagnis to stage a recovery, adding 61 runs in just 16 overs for the fourth wicket. Pagnis, striking the ball well, was dismissed against the run of play, giving Andre Nel his first wicket of the innings and departing for a well-made 47 off 87 balls.

Abhijit Kale and Parthiv Patel came and left in quick succession, and when Yuvraj was out to Robin Peterson for 54 off 103 balls (10 fours), India 'A' were reeling at 162 for seven.

But, in a departure from the norm, the Indian tail held up even better than their batsmen. L Balaji struck 37 off 42 balls, with seven fours, adding 47 runs for the eighth wicket with Murali Kartik. When Balaji left, Amit Mishra came to the party, and the pair added an unbeaten 75 runs for the ninth wicket.

At the close of play, India 'A' had recovered to 284 for eight. Kartik was unbeaten on 57 off 102 balls - the highest score of the innings - and Mishra was on 29 off 71 balls.

For South Africa 'A', Pretorius was the most successful bowler taking four for 47 off 17 overs. But the hosts will no doubt be disappointed at their inability to polish off the India 'A' tail after doing much of the hard work in removing the in-form batsmen.