Returning after recovering from ankle injury, India A captain Rishabh Pant had a unique reaction to his deputy Sai Sudharsan dropping a catch at forward square leg on Day 1 of the first unofficial Test against South Africa A.
In the 46th over of the inning, Tanush Kotian induced an inside edge off Jordan Hermann's bat. It was a low catch. Sudharsan got one hand to it but could not hold on.
As Sudharsan was disappointed with himself for dropping the catch, Pant tried to cheer him up. He got down on Sudharsan’s back and said a few words.
Opener Jordan was batting on 68 then. The drop did not turn out to be costly. A few overs later, Kotian trapped Jordan in front of the stumps. He scored 71 runs from 140 deliveries, featuring eight fours.
Pant opts to bowl first
Earlier, Pant won the toss and opted to bowl first at BCCI Centre of Excellence Ground 1, Bengaluru. Narayan Jagadeesan, Harsh Dubey, Yash Thakur, Saransh Jain were on the bench. Apart from Pant and Sudharsan the only batter who is likely to play against Temba Bavuma-led South Africa is Devdutt Padikkal.
On his return, the star wicketkeeper-batter was seen sporting no.18 jersey, a number associated with legendary Virat Kohli. While there have been calls to retire the no.18 jersey, in practice matches, players can don any number.
Jordan, Hamza score fifties
Anshul Kamboj struck early with the new ball, dismissing Lesego Senokwane for a seven-ball duck. Jordan and Zubayr Hamza shared a 130-run partnership for the second wicket. The partnership was broken by Gurnoor Brar with Hamza's wicket. The Test cricketer fell for 66 off 109 balls. Skipper Marques Ackermann could not make an impact and became Kotian's first victim of the day. Then Jordan fell to Kotian. Manav Suthar joined the party dismissing Rivaldo Moonsamy for a single-digit score. The visitors lost half the side for 197.