India 'A' vs Australia 'A' 1st Game: Match Report

Image: BCCI

The first of the two four-day games between India ‘A’ and Australia ‘A’, ended in a draw. No team was good enough to register a win. Here we bring to you the complete match report. All you need to know about the game.

Day 1: Rahul misses hundred, Pujura crosses 50, Aus ‘A’ gain the upperhand.

Day 1 commenced as Indian captain, Cheteshwar Pujura elected to bat first at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai. The decision was wise enough as the Chepauk pitch is traditionally a dry wicket, a batsman’s paradise. However, tables could turn as the Aussie XI had some dangerous bowlers with the likes of Sean Abbot, Stephen O Keefe, Gurinder Sandhu and Andrew Fekete. Their batting consisted of Usman Khawaja (C), Cameron Bancroft, Travis Head, Peter Handscomb, Nicolas Maddinson, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade (Wk).

On the other hand, the Indians selected the following set of players:

Cheteshwar Pujara (C), K L Rahul, Abhinav Mukund, Karun Nair, Naman Ojha (W),  Shreyas Iyer,  Amit Mishra,  Praghyan Ojha,  Umesh Yadav,  Vijay Shankar, Mithun A.

The pair of Abhinav Mukund and KL Rahul came out to start the Indian innings.They got off to a flyer, as the scoreboard read 20 after just under 2 overs. But, there fell a wicket! Abhinav Mukund was sent back to the pavilion by Andrew Fekete, just after he scored two boundaries confidently! This will be a good learning experience for him. In came Indian recent batting sensation, Cheteshwar Pujura. Along with Rahul, he put up a 107-run stand. They both complemented each other well, scoring off the odd loosed deliveries and leaving the good ones. Gradually, both brought up their fifties and the score was ticking.

Andrew brought another breakthrough as he dismissed Pujara for a well-made 55 off 122 balls. Karun Nair joined Rahul in the middle. Though, he never troubled the scorekeepers as he departed back to join his captain, with the team score moving ahead by five.

India, in a state of turmoil, now were in need of a good partnership. Young Shreyas Iyer and Rahul then put on a 50-run stand with Iyer scoring a confident 39. His stay at the crease was however cut short by pacer Gurinder Sandhu who ran through his defense. Meanwhile, Rahul was at his confident best cautiously working away the bowlers for runs and slowly inching towards a century. Unfortunately he was out caught by Usman Khawaja off the bowling of Sean Abbott just four short of a well-deserved century.

Naman Ojha then walked out to bat but was soon out scoring just 10. Vijay Shankar and Amit Mishra were unbeaten at stumps on day 1. Fekete and Steve O’Keefe claimed two wickets each for Australia ‘A’ .

 

 Day 2: Ojha gets three, Handscomb and Stoinis steady the Aussie innings after initial downfall.

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Australia ‘A’ ended the second day with 185 for 4, trailing the hosts by 116 runs. Back in the day, India ‘A’ resumed from their overnight score of 221 for 6 with Vijay Shankar and Amit Mishra unbeaten out in the middle, and were later dismissed for 301. The overnight batsmen added a half century stand for the seventh wicket with Shankar donning the role of the aggressor and Mishra holding one end up with patience. Mishra contributed 27 vital runs lower down the order giving ample amount of support to Shankar who mixed caution and aggression, at times even willing to take the aerial route that fetched him a six - the lone six in the entire India ‘A’ first innings.

Mishra’s stay finally came to an end as Steve O’Keefe got him out leg before. His dismissal marked the beginning of a slide as India ‘A’ lost their next three wickets for just 18 runs. O’Keefe was the wrecker in chief claiming all those three wickets and ending up with figures of 6/82 and India ‘A’ were bundled out for 301. Vijay Shankar though ended up with an unbeaten 51 to his name.

Australia ‘A’ in their reply did not have the best of starts as they lost their first wicket as early as the fourth over of the innings, with the scoreboard reading a mere seven. Experienced medium pacer Abhimanyu Mithun provided the first breakthrough. A partnership between Usman Khawaja and Travis Head went on as the duo went about putting up a 50-run partnership for the second wicket. Travis Head in particular looked confident scoring at will.. He was ultimately out caught by Amit Mishra off Pragyan Ojha’s bowling. He departed scoring 31. Pragyan Ojha then added more pressure sending back Khawaja 18 runs later and almost immediately sent back new man in Nic Maddinson for a duck. Australia were left tottering at 75/4.

Peter Handscomb and Marcus Stoinis then played the next hour watchfully and tried to get their side out of the rut. They did it with success as the duo slowly began to get runs once they got their eye in. Both batsmen looked confident and got the better of the India ‘A’ bowlers. Australia ‘A’ did not lose anymore wickets in the day. Handscomb and Stoinis ended up with unbeaten scores of 75 and 42 respectively with their side registering 185/4 at stumps on Day 2.
 
Day 3 : India ‘A’  take 154-run lead, Ojha completes fifer.

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Australia ‘A’ were all out for 268 in their first innings on Day 3 of the 4-day Test in Chennai. In reply, India ‘A’ were 121/3 with Karun Nair and Shreyas Iyer at the crease at the end of day’s play. Earlier in the day, Australia ‘A’ resumed from their overnight score of 221/6 with Peter Handscomb & Marcus Stoinis trying to get close to the Indian total. However, Handscomb was out adding just eight runs to the score as he was out sharply stumped by keeper Naman Ojha off Amit Mishra’s bowling. New man in Matthew Wade was Mishra’s second victim and was out caught by Mukund scoring a mere two. Stoinis at the other end tried his best to build a partnership with the lower order.

However, he too didn’t succeed in doing so and was out caught by Vijay Shankar off Pragyan Ojha’s bowling. Stoinis returned to the dressing room scoring a well-compiled 77. Australia ‘A’ were left reeling at 246/7 with Marcus’ departure. The tail could hardly change total as the visitors lost the rest of the three wickets for just 22 runs. Mishra and Ojha proved to be too tough to handle for the lower order as the duo claimed 8 wickets collectively. Mishra’s figures read 3/55 while Ojha picked up a brilliant fifer.

India ‘A’ in their second innings got off to a confident start with opener KL Rahul & Abhinav Mukund looking in good touch. The duo quickly brought up a 39-run opening stand until Rahul was out caught by Nic Maddinson off Travis Head’s bowling for 29. India ‘A’ captain Cheteshwar Pujara walked in next and along with Mukund began to score freely. The duo looked in no sort of trouble as they easily brought up a 71-run stand for the second wicket.

India ‘A’ then suffered a double blow with Mukund and Pujara both taking the long walk back to the pavilion in rapid succession. Medium pacer Gurinder Sandhu claimed both wickets. Mukund and Pujara scored 40 and 42 respectively. Karun Nair and Shreyas Iyer then batted through the rest of the innings and remained unbeaten on 4. India ‘A’ had managed to gather a 154-run lead at stumps on Day 3.

Day 4 : Bancroft and Head bring up fifties, Mishra picks up two as teams end on a draw.

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The first of the two 4-day game between India ‘A’ and Australia ‘A’ ended in a draw. This, after Australia ‘A’ ended up scoring 161/4 at stumps on the final day chasing a target of 240. Earlier in the day, India ‘A’ started their innings with overnight batsmen Shreyas Iyer and Karun Nair looking to prolong the innings lead. Both batsmen looked in good touch constantly rotating the strike and scoring the odd boundary. The Australia ‘A’ bowlers couldn’t keep the duo under check as they went about putting up a 52-run stand for the fourth wicket. Just as Iyer and Nair looked like continuing the good work, all-rounder Marcus Stoinis got Nair out bowled for 23. Iyer followed him in the next over as he was out caught by Nic Maddinson for 33. India ‘A’ were left reeling at 169/5 with the double strike.

Four runs later it was Naman Ojha who became Stoinis’ second victim. The India ‘A’ tail wagged for the next 20-odd runs, until Shankar was caught by Usman Khawaja off Stephen O’Keefe’s bowling. O’Keefe then got tail-ender Abhimanyu Mithun’s wicket with the score reading 206/8. India ‘A’ declared their innings and set Australia ‘A’ a target of 240.

Australia ‘A’s run-chase began with openers Usman Khawaja and Cameron Bancroft negotiating the first ten overs without any discomfort. The pair added a 36-run opening stand until Amit Mishra got the better of Khawaja getting him caught by Karun Nair for 12. However, the India ‘A’ bowlers found the going tough after Khawaja’s dismissal with new man Travis Head and Bancroft scoring at will. Both got to their individual half centuries until medium pacer Abhimanyu Mithun was brought back into the attack to break the flourishing partnership. Mithun induced an edge off Head’s bat and got him caught behind by wicketkeeper Naman Ojha for 50.

Mishra from the other end took the advantage and got opener Bancroft out caught for 51. With the score reading 115/3, Australia had two new men at the crease with still 125 runs required to win. Nic Maddinson and Peter Handscomb began their damage control with Maddinson playing the role of the aggressor scoring at a brisk pace. Maddinson hit two huge sixes and later followed it up with a boundary to race to 28 off just 21 balls. Handscomb at the other end played out four overs without scoring a run until Pragyan Ojha got him caught behind for a duck.

Handscomb continued to accelerate from the other end in pursuit of the target and got to an unbeaten 37. With 46 overs being bowled in their second innings and the target looking a bit farfetched in the remaining overs, the teams decided to settle for a draw.