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India A cruise to victory

Rustenburg - India A have put in a clinical performance to beat South Africa A by an innings and 13 runs in the first unofficial four-day Test match at Olympia Park in Rustenburg on Tuesday.

SA A were bowled out for 212 after being made to follow on from their first innings score of 357 this morning, and were outplayed by an all-round performance with the ball from India A.

Ishwar Pandey collected match figures of seven for 71, and led the attack with skill and consistency.

The young seamer along with Mohammed Shami (3/29) was destructive with the new ball, and received support from the spinners who profited from the older ball in conducive conditions.

India A captain and man of the match, Cheteshwar Pujara, praised his bowlers and the way they adapted to the conditions.

"If you want to win a Test match you have to get 20 wickets and to do that in two days in these conditions is fantastic," he said.

"Our experience of playing in Indian conditions where you get similar wickets to this one has helped.

"Normally the wickets are flat and the bowlers are made to work hard for their wickets and that experience shone through today."

SA A’s batting succumbed to the same failures of the first innings, coupled with a difficult fourth day wicket.

Temba Bavuma played an impressive innings of 65 to counter his first innings duck, the only score of substance in a disappointing batting display.

SA A head coach, Vincent Barnes, says challenging matches of this kind play an important role in the bigger picture of the players’ development.

"I tell the players that these are the type of conditions you are going to play in most of the time and you have to have the game plan and the skills for it," he said.

"That is what international cricket is about, a few of the guys stepped up, some stuck in and batted well to get us into a good position, especially in the first innings.

"At the end of the day these tough conditions give me an idea of the character of the players under situations like this," he added.

"If they got 590 and we scored 480 we would walk off learning very little about ourselves and the game.

"There is a lot that we have learnt, I think the players understood that they are playing against world-class opposition and it was tough."

The second and final match starts on Saturday at the Tuks Cricket Oval in Pretoria.

Scorecard:

India A 1st Innings: 582-9 dec.
C Pujara (137); R Sharma (119); S Raina (135)
W Parnell 3/93; JP Duminy 3/80

South Africa A 1st Innings: 357
R Rossouw (57); JP Duminy (84); J Ontong (47); T Tsolekile (47)
I Pandey 4/46; S Raina 3/40

South Africa A 2nd Innings (follow-on): 212
R Rossouw (34); T Bavuma (65) S Harmer (23)
M Shami 3/33; I Pandey 3/25; R Sharma 2/19

Result: India A won by an innings and 13 runs
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