KARUN NAIR found a good time to break his rot and his first century in any format since March 2015 ensured a draw for India-A, even though they had been trailing South Africa-A for the bulk of the first unofficial Test in Wayanad. Scores: India A 204 (Iyer 49, Rayudu 46, Piedt 5-85) and 309 for 4 (Nair 114*, Vijay Shankar 74*) drew with South Africa A 542 (de Kock 113, Ramela 112, Vilas 75, Axar 4-115) and 105 for 1 dec (Hendricks 61.
The visitors would have fancied their chances of a first victory on this tour to India when the final day began – eight wickets to get and a 371-run cushion to play with.
But Nair would not budge. He struck an unbeaten 114 off 192 balls, his first ton since the triple in the Ranji Trophy final, and a couple of fifties by Vijay Shankar and captain Abhinav Mukund ensured the other end was just as plucky.
There were 78.2 overs of play possible – more than enough for the South Africans to hope, considering they had already dismissed India-A for 204 in the first innings. The fourth innings meant spin would be doing the bulk of the work – Dane Piedt, who completed a five-for yesterday, trundled in for 49 overs for only one wicket.
Slow left-armer Keshav Maharaj got through 36 overs for two wickets. Although both men kept their economy rates under three, South Africa-A would have wanted more wickets from them. Oddly, though, Wayne Parnell bowled only three overs in the innings.
That they couldn’t live up to that mandate was down to a very fluent innings from Nair. He had struck only one fifty in 10 innings against both Australia-A and South Africa-A. He could have been bogged down, but 18 fours and a six indicates otherwise.
He walked out in the 12th over of the day and was there, seeing his team to the safety of a draw. Nair strung a 148-run fifth-wicket at a run-rate of 3.4 with Vijay Shankar, who contributed a steady 74 off 142 balls.
It was Vijay Shankar’s sixth first-class fifty in 14 matches, and his Tamil Nadu state-mate Mukund eased to his 23rd in 96 matches. This resolute display from India-A ensured the series remains 0-0 ahead of the second match, starting from next Tuesday. (ESPN Cricinfo)