India A bowlers reduce South Africa A to 128/6 at tea

PRETORIA: All-rounder Parvez Rasool (2-17) and pacer Ishwar Pandey (2-35) bowled impressive spells as India A bowlers ripped through South Arica A top order to reduce the home side to 128 for six at tea on the opening day of the second unofficial Test on Saturday.South Africa A's decision to bat first backfired as Indian pacers used the conditions well and bowled a stifling line and length to tie down the opposition batsmen at LC de Villiers Oval.The home side were at a precarious 51 for four when lunch was taken after 19.4 overs and Jammu and Kashmir lad Rasool then grabbed two wickets in the space of four balls in the 34th over to reduce South Africa A to 97 for six midway in the second session.He first removed wicketkeeper Thami Tsolekile (13) with a short-pitched delivery and then dismissed Temba Bavuma (42), the highest scorer for South Africa A so far, LBW in the last ball of the over. At tea, taken after 51 overs, Wayne Parnell (19) and Simon Harmer (12) were battling hard to rescue their side, having stitched 31 runs together. South Africa A got off to a disastrous start as openers Dean Elgar (0) and Reeza Hendricks (2) were dismissed off successive deliveries.Elgar was removed by youngster Siddharth Kaul off the last ball of the fourth over when the left hander mis-timed a short delivery and was safely caught by Shahbaz Nadeem at short mid wicket.Hendricks too played a loose shot and fell prey to Pandey in the first ball of the very next over, to peg South Africa A at two runs for two wickets in the fifth over.24-year-old Pandey dealt another blow to the South Africa A camp when he sent Rilee Rossouw (3) to the pavilion in his next over. The hosts were 11 for three in the seventh over with Rossouw adding just three runs to the team's total.