Kolkata: India A produced a remarkable victory over South Africa A in the second four-day match in Potchefstroom on Tuesday, as they outplayed the hosts by six wickets to level the two-match series 1-1.
On the third day, the Indian bowlers fought back after they had fallen short of the 322-run first innings total by the hosts.
Paceman Ankit Rajpoot (3/15) and left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem (3/47) were the stars with the ball as they destroyed the South African batting to bundle them out for just 177, which set a target of 223 runs for the Indians to get, to pull back one win in the final four-day clash. The only fifty-plus score for the hosts in the second innings came from the bat of opener Stephen Cook, who scored 70 runs from 196 balls.
Chasing the small target, opener Ravikumar Samarth, who played a wonderful 77-run knock in the first innings once again dazzled with the bat as he hit six fours en route to his 55, before being dismissed by Dane Piedt.
Sudip Chatterjee was the first man to be dismissed for 18, and soon he was followed by Shreyas Iyer, who scored 15 runs before he was caught and bowled by leg-spinner Shaun von Berg.
But skipper Karun Nair guided the chase with a responsible 90-run knock and along with Ankit Bawne (32*), he stitched a 93-run stand that helped India register a comfortable victory over the hosts. After Andile Phehlukwayo got rid of the captain towards the end of the game, Hanuma Vihari, the next batsman came out and struck a wonderful boundary to finish off with the proceedings.