The first match ended in a draw at the Mangaung Oval with the flat pitch offering very little for the bowlers to work with.

A total of 817 runs was scored in the game, while only 11 wickets were taken in the entire match.

The SA A coach, Malibongwe Maketa, has asked his batters to lay another solid foundation.

“The batters will again have to put us in a position where we are able to set positives fields for long periods of time to enable us to take 20 wickets.

“In saying that we will need to bat well and we are looking forward to the challenge.

“It's a good Indian team and the guys will be tested. They will be bringing a few new guys as well, so we are looking forward to it.

“It's important us to make sure that we stay positive in terms of taking 20 wickets. We knew coming here that it's not going to be easy to take 20 wickets.

“When it comes to our bowling attack, we are really going to be hard on ourselves in terms of our skillset and executing our discipline to enable us to take 20 wickets.”

Play at the Mangaung Oval is scheduled to start at 10:00 tomorrow morning.

Morgan Piek OFM Sport