However, South Africa A, however, might have something else to blame for their defeat. After scoring just one run in the first 16 balls he faced, Agarwal hammered six fours in the next 21.
Advertisement
Quinton de Kock, South Africa’s wicketkeeper batsman, was amongst the ten players hospitalized after complaining cramps and dehydration following a fine century against India A on Sunday.
The South African team had fallen ill overnight and Quinton de Kock, who had just flown down yesterday, was pushed into the playing XI to play against India A today.
Such was the scenario on Sunday that South Africa A video analyst Hendrikus Coertzen had to take the field after their left-arm seamer Mthokozisi Shezi fell ill during the game. As a result, India A, who were due to have a day off, will step in and play Australia A on Monday, with the BCCI confirming the change in schedule. SA team management requested India A coach Rahul Dravid whether he could allow one of his players to field for them, and the former India captain agreed. After four overs, two of which were maidens, India only had two runs on the board and Viljoen was unlucky in that a claimed catch by Theunis de Bruyn at second slip, offered by Mayank Agarwal, could not be confirmed by TV replays and thus the umpire stayed with his original soft indication of “not out”.
Though they are widely regarded for their batting prowess, Chand and Agarwal share an identical problem when it comes to building their innings.
India A: Unmukt Chand(c), Mayank Agarwal, Manish Pandey, Karun Nair, Kedar Jadhav, Sanju Samson(wk), Axar Patel, Rishi Dhawan, Karn Sharma, Dhawal Kulkarni, Sandeep Sharma. Agarwal took the backseat for a brief bit as Chand got stepped on the pedal, but he was back to being the aggressor as he raced to his century in the 31st over.
But the bowlers could not sustain their pressure and began to tire in the Chennai heat.
Chand, also helped himself to a second successive half- century but the Delhi boy missed out on his three-figure when he completely missed a half-tracker bowled by his opposite number in Dean Elgar.
Advertisement
There was another interesting development as the boundary ropes were taken at least 10 yards behind from where they were during the last match between India “A” and Australia “A”. Fall of wickets: 1-219, 2-243.
