JP Duminy pulverised a listless India A bowling attack with a scintillating 68 off 32 balls as South African batsmen got some quality batting practice by posting 189 for three in the T20 warm-up game in New Delhi on Tuesday. At the end of the first innings, South Africa scored 189/ 3.
Skipper Faf Du Plessis raced his way to 42 in 27 balls while opening batsman AB De Villiers chipped in with 36 from his 27 balls.
Du Plessis decided to retire and let Duminy take apart the bowling in the death overs as the Delhi Daredevils captain hit some breathtaking half a dozen sixes, including one that soared over the ground and went into the main road of the Airforce Sports Complex ground at Palam.
Rishi Dhawan (0/33 in 3 overs) and Anureet Singh (0/49 in 4 overs) were bowling in early 120 kmph and it was difficult to contain the South African batsmen with that quality.
Quinton de Kock (2) and David Miller (10) missed out as they were dismissed cheaply but the trio of Duminy, Du Plessis and De Villiers got batting time ahead of first T20 International in three days time.
The two significant partnerships were 87 for the second wicket between Du Plessis and De Villiers before the former retired hurt. The second was 83 for the unbroken fourth wicket stand between Duminy and Farhaan Behardien (17 not out).
The floodgates opened in the third over when skipper Du Plessis clipped the Railways bowler through mid-wicket and then square cut him for two boundaries.
De Villiers also stepped out to Yuzvendra Chahal to hit over the mid-on region. Dhawan’s lack of pace became apparent when De Villiers hit two successive sixes over cover and extra cover region with effortless ease.
Du Plessis, in the next over bowled by Yuzvendra Chahal, lofted him for a boundary as 50 was reached in no time.
The runs started flowing as De Villiers went inside out to lift Chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav over extra cover for a one bounce four. He repeated the stroke off left-arm spinner Pawan Negi.
At the end of the ninth over, skipper Du Plessis decided to retire having smashed seven boundaries in 27 balls in order to give others some time out there in the middle.
De Villiers was out in the next over trying to hoick Yadav as Negi took a skier at short fine leg as South Africa were 90 in 10 overs losing two wickets. De Villiers had three fours and two sixes
However, the India A bowlers did not fare any better in the back 10 conceding another 99 runs. Hardik Pandya, playing his first competitive match at the India A level, got David Miller (10) who missed a straight delivery trying to hit him out of the ground.
Duminy also got his feel of match situation with some good blows with one from Pandya being hit out of the ground into the main road. After that the left-hander let loose with some lusty blows as he finished the innings with two huge maximums off Anureet Singh.
Earlier, South Africans won the toss and elected to bat against India A in a Twenty20 practice cricket match in New Delhi on Tuesday. South Africa is on a tour to India and the first match in the T20 international will be held in Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh on Friday.
Teams:
India A: Mandeep Singh (c), M Agarwal, M Vohra, M Pandey, S Samson, H Pandya, R Dhawan, Anureet Singh, Y Chahal, P Negi, Kuldeep Yadav, S Yadav.
South Africa: F du Plessis (c), Q de Kock, H Amla, AB de Villiers, D Miller, JP Duminy, F Behardien, C Morris, K Abbott, M de Lange, K Rabada, K Zondo, E Leie, Imran Tahir, J Morkel.
