India beat Rest of South Africa XI

POTCHEFSTROOM, South Africa: The touring Indians beat the Rest of South Africa by 96 runs with a day to spare at Sedgars Park.

Set to make 321 to win, the Rest were bowled out for 224, with Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh taking three wickets apiece.

Only a century stand between Vaughn van Jaarsveld (66) and Justin Kemp (53) delayed the tourists as they hurried to victory in their only first-class warm-up match before the first of three Tests against South Africa, starting in Johannesburg Friday.

The last three Indian wickets added 49 runs as the tourists finished with a second innings total of 142.

All-rounder Irfan Pathan remained unbeaten on 40, adding to his 111 not out in the first innings. Batting at number seven, he was the top-scorer in both innings in a poor match for India's top order batsmen.

Swing bowler Alfonso Thomas took two of the last three wickets for figures of seven for 56.

The Rest made the worst possible start to the run chase when captain Jacques Rudolph was bowled first ball by a swinging delivery from Zaheer Khan. Jean Paul Duminy also fell to Zaheer Khan and the Rest were in deep trouble when VRV Singh dismissed Alviro Petersen and Morne van Wyk with successive deliveries.

Van Jaarsveld and Kemp put on 100 for the fifth wicket with aggressive stroke play. The left-handed Van Jaarsveld made his 66 off 70 balls, his second half-century of the match, before he was run out as the pair went for a quick single which would have brought up Kemp's fifty. Only eight more runs were added before Kemp was out, top-edging a pull against Zaheer Khan, with wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni running 20 metres to hold a good catch.

Harbhajan Singh's off-spin was too much for the Rest's tail as six wickets fell for 49 runs from Van Jaarsveld's dismissal.

It gave the Indians an extra day in which to get ready for the Test.