IND A vs SA A : Akash Deep Dismisses SA Captain Temba Bavuma For Golden Duck

In what’s his first red-ball encounter since the World Test Championship (WTC) Final against Australia in June, Temba Bavuma endured a comeback to forget as he got dismissed by team India pacer Akash Deep for a golden duck in the second unofficial Test between India ‘A’ and South Africa ‘A’ in Bengaluru.

Bavuma ended up feathering one to wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant as South Africa ‘A’ were reduced to 12/3 early on day two, after India ‘A’ had racked up 255 on a very challenging surface. 

For the South African captain, returning from a lengthy injury layoff, this is a disappointing outcome as he would have hoped for some hitting practice in the middle ahead of the two-Test series starting in a week. He would now hope to get a better hit in the second innings on a track that’s so far clearly favoured the bowlers. 

Meanwhile, this is a big statement from Akash Deep, who was dropped for the home series against West Indies despite impressing away in England. At the time of writing this report, Akash Deep’s figures read 5-2-5-2, with him also dismissing Lesego Senokwane for a duck. India ‘A’ have a stacked bowling line-up, with Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna and Kuldeep Yadav being the other bowlers. 

On day one, Dhruv Jurel (132*) was the only Indian batter to cross 25 as his one-man effort took the hosts to a fighting total. The likes of KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Devdutt Padikkal and Pant all endured failures with the bat.