South Africans escape with tense draw

South Africans 226 for 5 dec and 172 for 8 drew with Indian Board President's XI 361 for 6 dec (Mongia 148, Badani 74*)
Scorecard

South Africa came perilously close to defeat against a mixture of India hopefuls on the third day of the opening tour game. The Indian Board President's XI dislodged all but two wickets as the South African experiment of rejigging their batting line-up almost blew up. They struggled to go past the Board XI's 135-run lead, and once they had stuttered by, could add only 37 runs when stumps were called.

Earlier in the day, the Board XI had declared at 361 for 6 when Dinesh Mongia fell for 148, ending a stand worth 154 runs with Hemang Badani, who remained unbeaten on 74. Graeme Smith claimed Mongia after eight expensive overs. He was hampered by an injury to Jacques Kallis, who bowled only three overs before suffering a side strain that put his participation in the first Test in danger.

The South Africans's initial reply did not indicate the rough ride that was to follow. Jacques Rudolph and Zander de Bruyn struck 30s and put on 62 runs before Romesh Powar dismissed de Bruyn and Shaun Pollock off consecutive balls. Rudolph was runout 10 runs later (72 for 3), and not long after, Boeta Dippenaar and Hashim Amla were dismissed as well. There was still no sign of Graeme Smith at 108 for 5. Considering there was no news of an injury to him, it could have been an experiment to see the options he had in his inexperienced squad before the start of the Tests. He only appeared when Tsolekile left on 149 for 7, and was joined by Kallis a run later. They played out 84 balls between them to ensure that defeat remained an arm's length away.

With the first Test only four days away, South Africa will be racing time to find their feet.