Rain put paid to the aspirations of India 'A' pulling off a victory, as their three-day match against Surrey was abandoned without a ball being bowled on the final day in London on Thursday.

The result was a disappointment for the Indians, who were in the driver's seat when play ended on a rain-marred second day, having piled up 462 for four before declaring their first innings.

The huge total was made possible due to centuries by Gautam Gambhir, Sridharan Sriram and A T Rayudu.

In reply Surrey, who were skittled out for 173 in their first innings, were 39 for no loss.

The match belonged to the Indians, yet unbeaten on the England tour, as they impressed both with their bowling and batting.

While Sriram, playing his first three-day match of the tour, was dismissed for 115 (143b, 20x4), Gambhir and Rayudu remained not out on 130 and 101 respectively.

It was Gambhir's second century on the tour after his 128 not out against British Universities on June 25.

Gambhir faced 186 balls and hit 17 fours in a patient effort that lasted nearly four hours. In contrast Rayudu raced to his century hitting 15 fours and two sixes. His 101 runs came off 103 balls.

Surrey, who fielded five new players against the tourists, tried as many as nine bowlers as the Indian batsmen made merry.

India 'A' next take on South Africa in a three-day fixture, starting on Saturday.

Scoreboard

Surrey (1st Innings):          173

India 'A' (1st Innings):
S S Das lbw b Todd              74
W Jaffer c Batty b Dernbach     21
S Sriram c Batty b Clarke      115
G Gambhir not out              130
V Bharadwaj c Shahid b Clarke    7
A Rayudu not out               101

Extras: (b-2, lb-5, w-3, nb-4)   14
Total: (4 wkts, 94.5 overs)     462

Fall of wickets: 1-48, 2-150, 3-276, 4-291.
Bowling: Murtagh 17.5-0-81-0, Saker 15-1-76-0, Dernbach 13-3-74-1, Clarke 18-5-36-2, Benning 5-0-42-0, Todd 14-0-92-1, Shahid 9-1-42-0, Brown 2-0-7- 0, Newman 1-0-5-0.

Surrey (2nd innings):
S Newman batting              4
J Batty batting              23

Extras: (lb-2, nb-2)           4
Total: (no loss, 8.4 overs)   33

Bowling: Salvi 4-1-7-0, Bhandari 3-0-20-0, Balaji 1.4-0-4-0.

Day 1 report

Day 2 report