After Nikhil Haldipur glanced Ajit Agarkar for a boundary on the very second ball of the match, scoring almost came to a standstill with the ball just not travelling on the outfield left wet by overnight rains.

Agarkar claimed Gagan Khoda in his third over trapping him lbw but Haldipur put on 53 runs for the second wicket with Amol Majumdar to steady the innings. However the first 50 after 16 overs.

And to add insult to injury, three quick wickets in the space of three overs reduced India A to 76-4. Haldipur, after having made 38 (71 balls) played early to leg spinner Siraj Bahutule to give an easy catch to Robin Singh at mid off.

Majumdar was bowled by Bahutule and Gyanendra Pandey ran himself out, Dravid's direct hitfrom short cover doing the damage.

Jacob Martin and skipper Ajay Jadeja accelerated the scoring in the only way possible by running quick singles, as even full blooded shots failed to reach the boundary.

SCOREBOARD

INDIA A: Nikhil Haldipur c Robin Singh b Bahutule 38, Gagan Khoda lbw Agarkar 6, Amol Majumdar b Bahutule 18; Ajay Jadeja not out 50, Gyanendra Pandey run out (Dravid) 2, Jacob Martin st Mongia b Harbhajan 12, Saba Karim lbw Bahutule 10; Sunil Joshi c Dravid b Agarkar 21; Nikhil Chopra not out 8.

Extras (b2, lb8, w5, nb1): 16.

Total (for seven wickets in 40 overs) 181.

Fall of wickets: 1-14, 2-67, 3-74, 4-76, 5-105, 6-118, 7-157.

Bowling: Agarkar 7-0-33-2, Mohanty 8-1-48-0, Robin Singh 8-1-20-0, Harbhajan 8-0-30-1, Bahutule 7-0-26-3, Kanitkar 2-0-14-0.