South Africa came up with a good bowling performance on the first day of the two-day warm-up game against Indian Board President's XI at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai on Friday.
The Proteas dismissed the Board President's XI for 296 runs, but India bowlers, especially Shardul Thakur, were impressive. Thakur took two important wickets to reduce South Africa to 46 for the loss of two wickets at the end of first day's play.
Earlier, the Indian Board President's XI top order fell like a pack of cards as they were tottering at 27 for the loss of three wickets. Dale Steyn bowled a brilliant spell, dismissing Unmukt Chand in the first over of the game.
After losing early wickets, KL Rahul and Karun Nair brought some stability as they were involved in a century partnership, with the latter falling for 44 runs, which included nine hits to the fence. However, in a matter of few overs, Rahul also lost his wicket for 72 runs.
Nair and Rahul had looked confident in their approach against the strong South African bowlers. It was their partnership that brought their team back into the game as the middle-lower order stuck at the batting crease and scored some important runs.
Hardik Pandya needs a special mention here, as the batsmen took the attack to the opposition. He hit six boundaries and three sixes to help India post a decent total of 296 runs in the first innings. Steyn and Simon Harmer took three wickets each.
However, the South Africa batsmen could not end the day on a high, losing two wickets in the final overs of the day. With an entire day left to bat for tomorrow, the South Africa batsmen will be eager to make full use of the conditions and try to get good batting practice, ahead of the first Test in Mohali which starts on 5 November.
