Reportedly, Suresh Raina and Rohit Sharma scored fantastic centuries to catapult India A to a massive score of 582 for nine against South Africa A. With this, India A took a command of the first unofficial Test in Rustenberg on Sunday.
In this spectacular match, Sharma scored 119 while Raina smashed 135. The two aggressive batsmen ripped apart the home bowling assault on the second day of the match. In addition, Cheteshwar Pujara of India A hit 137 on Saturday to place his squad in a strong position.
Remarkably, Sharma and Raina shared a marvelous 106-run partnership for the fourth wicket. This partnership was broken when the former was caught by Temba Bavuma off JP Duminy at the end of the morning session.
Actually, India had resumed the innings at 281 for three and declared following scoring a vast 582 for nine. However, the Proteas could not break the last-wicket stand between Shahbaz Nadeem (46) and Jaydev Unadkat (31). The duo added 82 runs for the last wicket.
On the other side, South Africa scored 20 for one in reply as Unadkat had opener Reeza Hendricks (10) caught behind. Notably, Dean Elgar and Simon Harmer were at the crease when stumps were drawn for the day.
Subsequently, Rohit added another 49 runs to his overnight score before being ousted, but not before thrashing Protea bowlers with 14 boundaries and two sixes. Ultimately, it was Duminy who had Rohit caught at the short leg by Temba Bavuma. Ajinkya Rahane (10) joined in the middle while Raina continued to play his strokes, even as the former was dismissed cheaply when Duminy added another wicket to his record. Further, Duminy struck again to get rid of Wriddhiman Shah (1) as India posted 418 for six from 376 for four.
But that did not discourage Raina from scoring at a rapid pace. Then, he brought up his ton in the 141st over. Despite Duminy's successive aggressive strikes, Raina in the company of Ishwar Pandey, continued to jeopardize home bowlers. Both of them added 79-runs for the seventh wicket. At last, the partnership was broken in the third session of the day when Wayne Parnell castled Raina. Amazingly, the left-hander's 135-run score came off 177 balls with 14 fours and 3 sixes.
Finally, Pranell dismissed Pandey while Elgar sent Mohammed Shami (2) to the pavilion. However, Shahbaz and Unadkat aggravated the hosts bowlers with their terrific action. The duo batted almost 15 overs to add 82 runs to India's total.
