Dhiraj Jadhav and Mohammad Kaif scored fine centuries as India 'A' piled on the misery on the hapless India Seniors bowlers on the third day of the four-day practice match in Bangalore on Thursday.

Jadhav (113) and Kaif (103 not out) put on 155 runs for the third wicket as India 'A' declared their second innings at 297 for five setting the seniors a target of 387 runs to win.

At stumps, the India seniors were 35 without loss in 10 overs, with Yuvraj Singh batting on 23 and Virender Sehwag on 12.

Earlier, resuming at the overnight score of 47 for one, India 'A' lost skipper Dinesh Mongia early when he was caught in the slips by Rahul Dravid off Trivedi for 25.

This brought Kaif to the crease and the Uttar Pradesh cricketer staked his claim for a Test berth as he milked the bowling at will.

Kaif, who has made no secret of his goal to get into the Test squad, brought up his century with a lofted boundary off Virender Sehwag. He scored his runs off 194 balls with 12 boundaries and a six.

Meanwhile, Jadhav also completed his century and hit 11 fours in his 221-ball knock before being adjudged leg before wicket to Kumble.

The senior team's bowlers -- Irfan Pathan (1/55), Zaheer Khan (1/31) and Anil Kumble (1/57) -- struggled to make an impression on the duo, with Sidharth Trivedi turning out to be the most successful bowler, taking two for 52.

Harbhajan, looking for some useful bowling practice ahead of the first Test against Australia, commencing in Bangalore on October 6, went wicketless in the 20 overs that he bowled.

Wicketkeeper-batsman M S Dhoni, however, failed for the second time, scoring just 12 runs while yesterday's bowling hero Joginder Sharma was dismissed on 11. Venugopal Rao (20 not out) was giving Kaif company when Mongia declared the innings.

Chasing the victory target of 387, Virender Sehwag, desperately looking for a big knock after his recent string of poor scores, started off with a boundary of S S Paul and then raised his bat in the direction of India coach John Wright, sitting in the players' stand, who acknowledged it with a smile.

Scoreboard:

India 'A' first innings: 302

India Seniors first innings: 213

India 'A' second innings: (47 for one overnight)
Dheeraj Jadhav lbw b  Kumble 113
Gautam Gambhir c Ganguly b Khan 0
Dinesh Mongia c  Dravid b Trivedi 25
Mohammed Kaif not out 103
M S Dhoni c Singh b Pathan 12
Joginder Sharma c Dravid b Trivedi 11
Venugopal Rao not out 20

Extras (b-8, lb-3, nb-2)                        13

Total (for five wkts declared, in 93 overs)        297

Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-58, 3-213, 4-234, 5-253.

Bowling: Pathan 13-2-55-1; Zaheer Khan 12-3-31-1; Trivedi 20-4-52-2; Harbhajan Singh 20-3-61-0; Kumble 19-2-57-1; Sehwag 7-0-24-0; Yuvraj 2-1-6-0.

India 'A' second innings:
Yuvraj Singh not out 23
Virender Sehwag not out 12

Total (for no loss, in ten overs) 35

Bowling: Amit Bhandari 2-0-14-0; S S Paul 4-0-18-0; Murali Karthik 3-1-3-0; Venugopal Rao 1-1-0-0.