Whilst the attention of most Indian cricket fans had switched temporarily to the performance of the senior side in their T20I against South Africa in Chandigarh, the unofficial second test between the A teams from the respective countries was continuing in Mysuru.
And, having had much the better of things for the first two days, it was India A who were made to work hard on the third day of the match on Thursday.
After India A had made 417 all out in their first evening, by the close of play on the second day they had reduced the visitors to 159 – 5, still trailing by 258 runs, and with just five first innings wickets remaining.
However, this was the day that their captain, Aiden Markram, really played his way into form on this tour. The opener had endured a miserable time in the first match between these two sides in Thiruvanthapuram, recording scores of just 0 and 4 respectively. Yet, resuming overnight on 83 not out, he went on to convert that into a score of 161, including two sixes and 14 fours. He now seems certain to opening the batting in the first test for South Africa which gets underway on October 2nd in Visakhapatnam.
Another one to press his credentials for a place in the South African test side was all-rounder Wiaan Mulder. The 21 year old from Gauteng, who made his test debut against Sri Lanka earlier this year, shared a stand with Markram of 161 for the sixth wicker, and, after Markram was bowled by Mohammad Siraj, he found valuable support from the tail as he went on to complete his fourth first-class hundred, and his highest score at this level of the game.
He shared stands of 59 with Vernon Philander, and 39 with Dane Piedt, as he helped guide this side to near parity with the India A score. In the end he simply ran out of partners, and was left on 131 not out, having struck one six and 17 fours. His efforts though, together with those of Markram, had helped their side to 400, a deficit of just 17 runs on first innings.
India A reached 14 without loss in the second innings at stumps.
The prospect now is very much on a draw, unless something miraculous happens on the last day of the match. However, the day acted as a salutary reminder to Indian supporters that they cannot expect everything to go their way in the test series, and that there are some South African players who know how to fight.
