Jean du Plessis nicely blended caution with aggression to score a patient ton while Rubin Hermann missed his mark by mere five runs as South Africa A made lacklustre India A bowlers toil, scoring 298 for 5 on second day of the first 'Unofficial' Test.
The first day was washed out due to rain.
At stumps, Du Plessis was unbeaten on 103 off 207 balls, having completed his seventh first-class hundred in the penultimate over, guiding a Tushar Deshpande (0/48 in 16 overs) delivery past point.
The decision to bowl first by India skipper Kona Bharat didn't pay much dividends on a slow surface as they struggled with a for the four-pronged pace attack.
It was left-arm spinner Saurabh Kumar (3/83), who emerged as the most successful bowler dismissing Hermann when he was just five short of his ton. His 95 off 146 balls was laced with 15 fours and he shared a 84-run third wicket stand with Du Plessis.
The only player in this 'A' line-up, who has a chance of playing the 'Boxing Day' Test is Shardul Thakur (1/33 in 11 overs) and the Mumbai bowling all-rounder was only in his element during the start of final hour when he got rival skipper Bryce Parsons (24) to edge one to Bharat behind the stumps.
None of the Indian pacers made an impression on a surface where one needed to bend his back to get the extra bounce. Vidwath Kaverappa doesn't have pace to trouble batters at elite level while Deshpande doesn't have too many variations save short balls.
Prasidh Krishna didn't look in great form either. While Kumar got three wickets, but he was too slow through the air and also surprisingly bowled a negative leg-stump line to centurion Du Plessis.
Brief Scores: South Africa 'A' 1st Innings 298/5 in 92 overs (Rubin Harmann 95, Jean du Plessis 103 batting, Saurabh Kumar 3/83).
