Follow UsRishabh Pant’s return to competitive cricket with India A in the first match of the two-match unofficial Test series against South Africa A on October 31, did not turn out to be a great one.
The wicketkeeper-batter, who was injured during the Manchester Test on India’s tour of England in August, had to sit out important home series against West Indies, the Asia Cup as well as the tour of Australia.
Trying to return to India’s senior men’s team for the upcoming Test series against South Africa, Pant decided to play the A series and gain much needed match fitness. However, his return was ordinary in nature, as he got out for 17 off 20 balls, with two fours in his kitty.
Okuhle Cele, a fast bowler of the South African side, got rid of him as he was caught by Zubayr Hamza. It would be interesting to see how he would do in the second innings, as not a lot of Indian batters did well in the first innings.
Ayush Mhatre was the leading run-scorer for the India A side with 65 off 76 balls. The entire team was bowled out for 234 and trailed South Africa A by 75 runs on the basis of their first innings’ score of 309 runs.
In the second innings, the A side of the Proteas led by 105 runs with all their 10 wickets intact at the end of Day 2 in Bengaluru.