Tiaan van Vuuren claimed four wickets to help South Africa A seize the advantage after the opening day of the second four-day match against India A in Bengaluru.
The left-arm seamer grabbed 4-52 in 16.1 overs as the hosts were bowled out for 255 at the BCCI Centre of Excellence. However, things could have been much better for the tourists had they not run into impressive India Test batsman Dhruv Jurel.
Batting at No 6, he helped the home side recover from a dire 126-7 to more than double their score thanks to a superb unbeaten century. He ended the first day as the last man standing on 132* off 175 balls (12 fours, four sixes).
Van Vuuren was not the only South African bowler to impress. There were also strong performances from Tshepo Moreki (2-52) and Prenelan Subrayen (2-73) – the trio helping bowl out their opponents late in the day in 77.1 overs.
The touring side were bolstered for the game by the inclusion of Proteas Test captain Temba Bavuma, while the hosts brought in several of their own Test squad ahead of the upcoming two-match Test series between the sides.
South Africa won the toss and chose to bowl first, a decision fully vindicated just 36.4 overs into the day.
Abhimanyu Easwaran fell for a three-ball duck in the second over, trapped lbw by Moreki, before fellow opener KL Rahul departed for 19, off Van Vuuren in the 16th over.
Sai Sudharsan (17) was then trapped lbw by Subrayen and Devdutt Padikkal (five) was the next victim of Van Vuuren in the 20th over. When first match hero and captain Rishabh Pant (24) was sent back by Moreki, India had slumped to 86-5.
The subsequent wickets of Harsh Dubey (14) and Akash Deep (nought) left them seven down for 126, but Jurel and Kuldeep Yadav (20) put on 79 together for the eighth wicket to take their side across the 200-mark.
And the former then continued to attack as the tail fell around him with the day ending when Prasidh Krishna was caught and bowled by Van Vuuren off his own bowling for nought, handing SA the advantage at stumps.
Photo: Sydney Seshibedi/Gallo Images
