Board Presidents XI vs South Africa, 3-Day Practice Match, Day 3, Review: Rohit Sharma's first tryst with opening ends in a disaster, Maharaj impresses again

When was the last time you look forward to a practice game leading into a home Test season? When was the last time you furiously refreshed scorecards to keep track of the proceedings of a Boards Presidents XI vs a visiting side three-day match? Not in a very long time. But these are no ordinary times.

At a time where India is looking to do an encore of what Sourav Ganguly did in the early 2000s: Make an opener out of a middle-order batsman. And, when that batsman is Rohit Sharma- a modern-day white-ball great- every game matters. And, so when Rohit Sharma strode out to bat with Mayank Agarwal in what was effectively a dress rehearsal of the main event, millions of eye-balls galore on their mobile phones.

But, unfortunately, his innings ended before even scorecard could load. Vernon Philander proved to be the antithesis to the occasion as he induced that dreaded outside edge of the right-handers’ bat, only for Henrich Klaasen to take an easy catch and end Rohit’s maiden tryst in a space of two balls. Abhimanyu Easwaran and Test regular Mayank Agarwal blunted the opening burst by the South African fast bowlers but just as it looked the former would kick-on and make another impactful score, his stay was cut-shot by Kagiso Rabada [1-27] at 13.

Maharaj induces a middle-order collapse; Panchal scores another half-century

Post-Easwaran’s dismissal, Mayank Agarwal, who stroked six boundaries in his 92-ball 39 and another opener who is scoring truckloads of runs in Domestic Cricket, Priyank Panchal combined to form a 62-run stand for the third wicket. And, just as it looked the duo were set for a long-partnership, Keshav Maharaj [3-35] once again reminded us of his growing stature in world cricket and why he finished with 38 wickets in 5 games in the recently concluded County Championship.

Maharaj removed Agarwal for 39 to reduce BPXI to 3-85 which soon became 5-136, with the off-spinner and Vernon Philander chipping in with crucial wickets of Panchal [60] and Karun Nair [19]. At 5-136, the BPXI needed a partnership of substance, and they got it courtesy a gritty 100-run stand between Mumbai’s Siddhesh Lad [52*] and wicket-keeper KS Bharat [71]. While Lad was usual gritty-self, once again showing his character in crisis, as he has so often done for Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy, it was KS Bharat’s whirlwind counter-attack that turned heads.

The wicket-keeper batsman from Andhra Pradesh threw caution to the wind, scoring a swashbuckling 57-ball 71- a knock that included seven 4s and five 6s. Bharat’s innings of 71 bores close resemblance to what Vernon Philander did at the beginning of the day. Having started the day at 5-199, an entertaining 49-ball 48 from Philander backed by a solid 87 by Tenda Bavuma helped the visitors declare their innings at 6-279.

Maharaj finally broke the 100-run stand between Bharat [71] and Lad [52] while Senuran Muthuswamy chipped in with the wicket of Jalaj Saxena before both captains shook hands to eventually end the game in a draw. With the practice-match done and dusted, it is time for the main event now. The first Test between India and South Africa starts at Vizag on October 02.

Brief Scores:

South Africa: 6-279 dec after 64 overs (Aiden Markram 100 (retd), Tenda Bavuma 87*, Vernon Philander 48*; Dharmendrasinh Jadeja 3-66)

Board Presidents XI: 8-265 dec after 64.0 overs (Priyank Panchal 60, Siddhesh Lad 52*, Srikar Bharat 71*; Keshav Maharaj 3-35, Vernon Philander 2-27)

Result: Match Drawn