New batting star Mohd Kaif strongly put forward his case for a Test slot with a fighting half-century as Indians salvaged a draw against West Indies ‘A’ in a three-day match that ended here today. Set a stiff target of 243 from 40 overs in the final session, West Indies ‘A’ reached 81 for 4 in 26 overs when a draw was agreed by both captains. Earlier, Kaif pulled the Indians out of trouble in their second innings with a sparkling 77 to help the visitors to 255 all out. The Uttar Pradesh youngster was chiefly responsible for saving the blushes for Indians as he batted almost the entire afternoon session and rebuilt the innings which was tottering at 149 for six. Kaif, who hit eight fours and a six in his 127-ball knock spanning 158 minutes, added 85 runs for the seventh wicket with Dinesh Mongia (27) to push India in to a safe zone. Kaif was the last man out when he hit young Jamican quickie Jermaine Lawson to long-on. (PTI) SCOREBOARD Indians (1st Innings): 253-7 decl West Indies A (1st Innings): 266 Indians (2nd Innings): S S Das c Hibbert b King 0; W Jaffer c Hinds b Lawson 52; S Bangar lbw Lawson 27; A Ratra c sub b Hinds 8; P Patel c Simmons b Lawson 20; V V S Laxman c Simmons b Black 17; M Kaif c Ganga b Lawson 77; D Mongia c Black b Lawson 27; A Agarkar lbw Lawson 0; Harbhajan Singh c Simmons b King 5; T Yohannan not out 0; Extras (b8, lb5, w2, nb7): 22 Total: 255 Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-63, 3-86, 4-115, 5-130, 6-149, 7-234, 8-234, 9-253; Bowling: King 18-2-62-2, Black 16-3-56-1, Lawson 22.4-4-76-6, Ryan Hinds 19-4-42-1, Gayle 2-0-6-0 West Indies A (2nd Innings): D Ganga b Agarkar 4, DS Smith c Patel b Yohannan 19, DJ Pagon lbw b Bangar 18, LMP Simmons c Patel b Harbhajan Singh 4, RO Hinds not out 10, DJ Bravo not out 15, Extras (b-1, lb-5, nb-3, w-2) 11; Total: (4 wickets, 26 overs) 81 Fall of wickets: 1-7, 2-49, 3-55, 4-57; Bowling: Agarkar 6-3-18-1, Yohannan 8-0-27-1, Bangar 7-3-11-1, Harbhajan Singh 5-0-19-1
