India A paid the price for their sloppy fielding and ordinary bowling as South Africa A rode on the shoulders of opener Alviro Petersen's century to post 264 for four on the truncated opening day of their second and final four-day match in Dharamsala on Wednesday.

Indians dropped as many as four catches allowing South Africa off the hook with Petersen scoring 109 and Hashim Amla and captain Boeta Dippenaar scoring 49 each.

Ashwell Prince on 17 and Justin Ontong with 22 were at the crease when stumps were drawn after only 70 overs bowled on the opening day.

No play was possible in the morning session due to a wet outfield following rains on the previous evening.

The conditions appeared to be assisting the pacers but the South African batsmen showed some great determination as after captain Dippenaar had elected to bat.

India got an early breakthrough via paceman Ishant Sharma who removed Morne Van Wyk (9) in the second over.

However, 26-year-old Petersen made most of the opportunity after being dropped by substitute Suresh Raina when he was on 23. Petersen and Hashim Amla hit the bowlers all around the park on a wicket staging its first match of the season and took charge of proceedings.

Petersen hit 17 hits to the fence and two huge sixes and posted his eighth first class century which came off 163 balls. He stitched a 116-run partnership with Amla and added 89 runs with Dippenaar but his three-hour-45-minute stay at the crease ended when Parthiv Patel stumped him off Pragyan Ojha.

Amla was gifted three lives before he returned to the pavilion one shy of a half-century trying to cut Ojha, but only managing to find the hands of skipper Mohammad Kaif at first slip.

Amla had survived a return catch off Ojha on 20 and punished the bowler with a huge six over long-on soon after.

In the subsequent over by Amit Mishra, Amla was dropped twice at the individual score of 26 when the team total read 81 for one.

Dippenaar, the next batsman in, also could not complete his half-century as he fell to Mishra's googly and was trapped leg before for 49, which came with the help of nine boundaries in 78 balls.

Scoreboard:

South Africa A
M Van Wyk lbw b Sharma 9
A Petersen st Patel b Ojha 109
H Amla c Kaif b Ojha 49
H Dippenaar lbw Mishra 49
A Prince not out 17
J Ontong not out 22

Extras (lb-6, nb-3) 9

Total (for 4 wkts in 70 overs) 264

Fall of wickets: 1-9, 2-125, 3-214, 4-231.

Bowling: Pankaj Singh 6-1-30-0, I Sharma 14-5-35-1, P Ojha 24-3-98-2, Y Mahesh 10-2-41-0, A Mishra 16-4-54-1.