The game was initially low-scoring, with both Mithun and Vinay exerting a lot of pressure on the batting. They snared two early wickets with the pressure, and then that of Tanmay, who looked compact and neat when he played his bit, only to throw it away with a swish outside off, caught at slip. The slips were very active, notably Arun Karthik, who plucked three really sharp catches, which should be a lesson to some of India's lesser fielders, as well as one on the value of the slip cordon.
Kaif started with neat drives, finding the gaps, but eventually, started going over the top with cross-batted shots. He didn''t get too much elevation in any of his attempts. Wickets fell regularly until Piyush Chawla, now a recognised batsman, played a good hand, scoring 72 till end of the day. He hit a few sixes, and kept the scoring rate healthy, forming a good partnership with Kaif. After Kaif was dismissed, Praveen Kumar played several risky, attacking shots very much like Shahid Afridi, or the Praveen Kumar before ODI debut.
Vinay Kumar and Mithun took three each. Neither were fast, but they were quite aggressive, and hit the deck quite hard. That helped exert pressure and earn some wickets. The more Vinay bowls, the more the reason he should get a national call-up for the South Africa series.
