India ‘A’ recovered its bearings, only to drop them again with some tardiness late in the day, and push itself onto the back foot on day three of the second unofficial Test against Australia ‘A’ here on Friday.
At 205 for three, nine runs adrift, it seemed to be back in the reckoning only to lose three set batsmen in the last hour. It now has a lead of 53 with Shreyas Gopal and B. Aparajith at the crease and a day’s play remaining.
Earlier, after having dismissed the last man standing Andrew Fekete for the addition of just 20 runs, skipper Cheteshwar Pujara was presented with one final chance to make an impression before the squad departs for Sri Lanka.
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Instead he was run out for 11, hesitating on a call from Abhinav Mukund and falling short at the far end.
From there started India’s climb. Virat Kohli, Karun Nair and Shreyas Iyer are an ambitious lot. And for the first time in the match, their ambition was matched by intent.
Kohli got his innings off with two excellent cover drives on balls two and five. Karun’s and Shreyas’ second, third and fourth balls were hits to the boundary.
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The signs were unmistakable. In the first innings the Indian batting line-up seemed so smitten by caution but today there was controlled aggression on display here.
Each of them stitched together half-century partnerships with Abhinav Mukund — 63 for the second wicket, 52 for the third and 71 for the fourth respectively.
The 25-year-old Tamil Nadu batsman, on the other hand, was unperturbed by the happenings at the other end and scored an ultra-patient half-century (59, 163b) which had just two fours and a six but 35 singles.
Kohli was confident playing in the ‘V’. For someone who has looked a tad troubled in recent matches playing deliveries leaving him from just short of length, he buckled down to tackle them with studious zeal.
The only jarring note was when he stepped back to pull the spinners. He survived once but was bowled the second time by Stephen O’Keefe, misjudging the length.
Karun (31) and Shreyas (49) played sparkling little knocks. Their combined total of 80 runs off 100 balls contained 15 boundaries. While Shreyas’s first four boundaries were all cuts behind square, Karun hit square on both sides, drove through the covers, pulled and also essayed a delightful inside out shot to show his full range.
The problem however, was that none of the batsmen indulged their desires to score big. Abhinav and Shreyas fell within four balls of each other.
Spinners O’Keefe and Ashton Agar picked up four wickets among them even as Marcus Stoinis turned in remarkable figures of 11-5-14-0 including 33 dot balls first up. Australia dropped two catches too — of Kohli and Pujara. Thankfully, neither proved costly.
The scores:
India ‘A’ — 1st innings: 135.
Australia ‘A’ — 1st innings: C. Bancroft c Kohli b Aparajith 150, U. Khawaja lbw b Pragyan Ojha 33, Joe Burns c Abhinav b Pragyan Ojha 8, P. Handscomb c Kohli b Pragyan Ojha 0, C. Ferguson c Karun b Shreyas 54, M. Stoinis st. Naman Ojha b Aparajith 10, M. Wade b Aparajith 11, S. O’Keefe (not out) 16, G. Sandhu st. Naman Ojha b Aparajith 36, A. Agar b Aparajith 6, A. Fekete c Kohli b Pragyan Ojha 10; Extras (nb-5, w-1, b-1, lb-8): 15; Total (in 107.5 overs): 349.
Fall of wickets: 1-111, 2-123, 3-123, 4-230, 5-258, 6-279, 7-282, 8-320, 9-328.
India ‘A’ bowling: Shardul 11-2-37-0, Aaron 15-5-41-0, Pragyan Ojha 34.5-2-107-4, Aparajith 25-5-86-5, Shreyas Gopal 22-2-69-1.
India ‘A’ — 2nd innings: Abhinav c Bancroft b Agar 59, C. Pujara run out 11, V. Kohli b O’Keefe 45, Karun c Khawaja b Sandhu 31, Shreyas Iyer b O’Keefe 49, N. Ojha c Khawaja b O’Keefe 30, B. Aparajith (batting) 28, Shreyas Gopal (batting) 0; Extras (nb-2, w-1, b-7, lb-4): 14; Total (for six wkts. in 83 overs): 267
Fall of wickets: 1-19, 2-82, 3-134, 4-205, 5-211, 6-258.
Australia ‘A’ bowling: Sandhu 18-1-74-1, Fekete 10-4-14-0, Stoinis 11-5-14-0, O’Keefe 28-7-83-3, Agar 16-0-71-1.