India 'A' vs South Africa 'A' first match ends in draw

Unbeaten fifties from opener Yaseen Valli and Jean du Plessis helped South Africa 'A' earn a draw against India 'A' on the fourth and final day of the first unofficial Test in Potchefstroom on Thursday.

South Africa 'A' made 152/2 in 42 overs in their second innings before both the sides agreed to shake hands. Earlier, India 'A' were bowled out for 417 in their first innings.

The home side were in a bit of bother when they were reduced to 48/2 in the 12th over as opener Cameron Dean Shekleton and one down batter Rubin Herman returned to the hut without contributing much.

However, South Africa found their fight through Valli (72 not out) and Du Plessis (50 not out) as they negated the rest of the 30 overs without much fuss.

They played comfortably against India's pacers, especially Prasidh Krishna who had taken a five-wicket haul in the first innings, including a hat-trick.

Earlier in the day, India resumed their first innings from 377/6 with Shardul Thakur batting on 70. But, he could add only six more runs to his overnight score, before giving a catch to Valli off pacer Evan Jones.

Saurabh Kumar made 22 to take India past the 400-run mark as the visitors ended their first innings at 417 all out for an innings lead of 98 runs.

For South Africa, Jones took four wickets while fellow pacer Siya Plaatjie grabbed three. The second unofficial Test will begin at Benoni from December 26.

Brief Scores:

South Africa ‘A': 319 all out in 98.1 overs and 152 for 2 in 42 overs (Yaseen Valli 72 not out, Jean Du Plessis 50 not out) drew with India ‘A': 417 all out in 86.5 overs (Pradosh Ranjan Paul 163, Shardul Thakur 76, Sarfaraz Khan 68; Evan Jones 4/100, Siya Plaatjie 3/65).