Wasim Jaffer followed up his first innings half century with another sparkling knock in the second essay to stake claim for a Test slot, as India's three-day warm-up game against Pakistan 'A' petered out to a tame draw in Lahore on Monday.
Jaffer was 35 not out, inclusive of six fours in 43 balls, while Gautam Gambhir was unbeaten on 28, off 38 balls with five fours, in the Indians' second innings total of 72 for no loss at the Bagh-E-Jinnah ground.
Mumbai batsman Jaffer played some scintillating cover drives and pull shots against pacer Umar Gul. His opener partner Gambhir, however, struggled at the other end.
The Delhi left-hander was dropped twice by stumper Zulqarnain Haider before opening his account and then played and missed quite a few times before settling down to play some fine drives off Mohammed Irshad.
Earlier, Pakistan 'A' declared their first innings on 358 for 9, 56 runs behind India's 414 for 7 declared.
The home team put on 146 runs after starting the day at 212 for 4 before declaring.
The first session produced 71 runs and the second 75. The unconquered batsmen at the time of declaration were Umar Gul (15) and last man Rao Iftikhar Anjum (0).
The highlight of the day's play, under misty and cold conditions, was Faisal Iqbal's 87, scored in 238 balls and inclusive of 15 fours.
He was ninth out, caught at deep square leg, pulling Ajit Agarkar to Harbhajan Singh.
Wicketkeeper Haider had departed earlier in the pre-tea session, trapped leg before by Irfan Pathan, who finished with 3 for 82.
Agarkar and Rudra Pratap Singh got two wickets each while Harbhajan Singh claimed one.
In the morning, R P Singh and Zaheer Khan struck once each within the first half hour of play before Pakistan 'A' recovered through their seventh wicket pair of Iqbal and Haider.
The two Indian left arm bowlers, who bowled poorly on Sunday, put up a much better show on a cold morning and were rewarded for their efforts with a wicket apiece.
After being driven a couple of times by left-hander Asim Kamal, Rudra Pratap took revenge by forcing the batsman to play a pull shot and top edge the ball for wicket-keeper Mahendra
Singh Dhoni to accept an easy catch in the third over of the day. The batsman made 14 during a stay of 35 minutes.
Then Zaheer dismissed new batsman Mansoor Amjad for a blob three overs later by trapping the batsman leg before wicket with a ball that shot through low and hit Amjad plumb in front as he played back.
Pakistan 'A' could add only 23 runs in 13 overs in the first hour against the two left arm pacers, but then the run-rate perked up a bit afterwards when Rudra Pratap was replaced by Ajit Agarkar and Harbhajan Singh came in for Zaheer.
But Iqbal, unbeaten on 13 last evening, batted attractively with some spanking pulls and drives. He completed his half century off the last ball before lunch in 107 balls and with the help of eight fours.
Scorecard
India (Ist innings): 414 for 7 decl.
Pakistan 'A' (1st innings):
Imran Farhat c Zaheer Khan b Harbhajan Singh 107
Bazid Khan c Laxman b Agarkar 6
Mohd Wasim lbw Pathan 1
Hasan Raza c Dhoni b Pathan 75
Faisal Iqbal c Harbhaj 87
Asim Kamal c Dhoni b R P Singh 14
Mansoor Amjad lbw Zaheer Khan 0
Zulqarnain Haiderlbw Pathan 35
Yasir Arafat c Dhoni b R P Singh 9
Umar Gul not out 15
Rao Iftikhar Anjum not out 0
Extras: (lb 4, nb 5) 9
Total: (for 9 wickets in 95 overs) 358
Fall of wickets: 1-14, 2-26, 3-186, 4-198, 5-226, 6-227, 7-315, 8-337, 9-358.
Bowling: Pathan 22-6-82-3; Agarkar 16-3-60-2; R P Singh 16-4-62-2; Zaheer Khan 19-2-67-1; Harbhajan Singh 21-1-77-1 Yuvraj Singh 1-0-6-0.
India (2nd innings):
G Gambhir not out 28
W Jaffer not out 35
Extras: (b 1, w 5, nb 3) 9
Total: (for no loss in 13 overs) 72
Bowling: Umar Gul 5-0-26-0, Rao Iftikhar Anjum 5-2-17-0, Irshad 2-0-20-0, Imran Farhat 1-0-8-0.
