THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Shikhar Dhawan's 43-ball 52 went in vain as India 'A' suffered a narrow four-run loss to South Africa 'A' in the rain-curtailed fourth unofficial ODI here on Thursday.
Dhawan returned to some form with a much-needed fifty and Shivam Dube contributed 31, but India 'A' struggled to stitch partnerships while chasing a revised target of 193 in 25 overs under the D/L method.
For South Africa 'A', Anrich Nortje (3/36), Marco Jansen (3/25) and Lutho Sipamla (3/55) took three wickets each.
India resumed their innings at 56 for 1 in 7.4 overs on Thursday after rain pushed the match to the reserve day.
But despite nine wickets in hand, the hosts could not knock off the 137 runs from 17.2 overs, thus losing a chance to notch up their fourth successive win.
Brief Score:
South Africa 'A': 137 for 1 in 25 overs (Reeza Hendricks 60, Matthew Breetzke 25, Heinrich Klaasen 21 not out; Rahul Chahar 1/18)
India 'A': 188 for 9 in 25 overs (Shikhar Dhawan 52; Marco Jansen 3/25).