It146;s Patel Rap at Kimberly

After Mohammad Kaif8217;s century yesterday, it was the day of Patels at Kimberly here today. Young wicketkeeper-batsman Parthiv Patel and ...

After Mohammad Kaif8217;s century yesterday, it was the day of Patels at Kimberly here today. Young wicketkeeper-batsman Parthiv Patel and medium-pacer Rakesh Patel justified their inclusion with some stupenduous performance as India A brought the four-day first Test on even keel here today.

Scoreboard

INDIA A 1ST INNINGS: G Gambhir c Rudolph b Nel 50, A Pagnis c Tsolekile b Nel 5, M Kaif c sub b Nel 136, J Martin b Abrahim 7, Yuvraj Singh c Tsolekile b Nel 25, A Kale b Van Der Wath 73, P Patel c Bodi b Amla 69, R Patel c van der Wath b Kent 0, M Kartik b Nel 9, L Balaji not out 9, D Mohanty c Rudolph b Bodi 5.
Extras: 20 b-1, lb-8, w-1, nb-10
Total: all out, 127.3 overs 408
FoW: 1-9, 2-119, 3-168, 4-232, 5-233, 6-331, 7-344, 8-359, 9-399.
Bowling: Nel 33-3-93-5, Abrahim 28-5-88-1, Van der Wath 26-4-73-1, Kent 19-6-54-1, Bodi 17.3-3-61-1, Van Jaarsveld 2-0-12-0, Amla 2-0-18-1.

SOUTH AFRICA A 2ND INNINGS: J Rudolph c Yuvraj Singh b R Patel 17, L Bosman lbw b R Patel 0, M Van Jaarsveld not out 23, H Ackerman not out 0.
Extras: b-1, nb-3 4.
Total: 2 wickets, 14 overs 44.
Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-41.
Bowling: R Patel 7-1-22-2, Balaji 4-1-8-0, Mohanty 3-0-13-0.

Resuming at 203 for three, India A were all out for 408 on the third day, but the visitors had made early inroads with Rakesh Patel sending back the two South Africa A openers J Rudolph 17 and L Bosman for no score in their second innings. When the stumps were drawn, the hosts had made 44 for two for an overall lead of 79.

Earlier, overnight centurian Kaif survived only a few overs in the company of Yuvraj Singh 25 before getting out at 136. When the Gujarat youngster walked in to join Abhijit Kale at 233, the situation was not conducive, particularly with Andrew Nel bowling at his best. But the two played very sensibly to put on 98 runs for the sixth wicket. Patel, who made 69, matched his senior partner Kale 73 in stroking the ball to all corners of the ground. The two were particularly severe against both Nel and Abrahim. However, both Kale and Patel fell to van der Wath and Amla while trying to up the scoring rate. But Nel, who bowled a nagging line and length, used the conditions well to capture five wickets.