Shreyas Iyer gave the Australian bowlers the first hint of what lies in store for them over the next six weeks as the Mumbai batsman’s unbeaten knock of 85 helped India-A make a solid reply after the visitors declared their first innings at 469 for seven.
Riding on Shreyas’ nearly run-a-ball innings (93b, 7x4, 5x6), India-A finished the second of the three-day game at 176 for four. With Rishabh Pant at the crease and Ishan Kishan yet to come in, the India-A batsmen can still hope to run the Australians close on Sunday.
Despite Shreyas’ belligerence, the Australian bowlers — sans frontline pacers Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood, who have been rested — can take heart from their performance. On a batting paradise, pacers Jackson Bird and Mitchell Marsh kept the openers in check.
No freebies
And even after being clobbered by Shreyas, spinners Nathan Lyon and Stephen O’Keefe retained their discipline, depriving the batsmen of freebies.
Lyon, especially, struck the right balance of bowling full without offering too much loop. It resulted in him extracting appreciable bounce, which was instrumental in the dismissals of the India-A openers.
While left-hander Akhil Herwadkar top-edged one straight to the off-spinner, Priyank Panchal got one in the last over before tea that rose sharply and the right-hander could only offer Peter Handscomb a dolly at forward short-leg.
Shreyas, meanwhile, was playing the spinners really well. He made his intentions clear by hitting the first ball he faced, from Lyon, over wide long-on. He struck two more sixes off Australia’s lead spinner.
He also had little difficulty in hoisting the left-arm spin of O’Keefe twice over the fence against the turn, once each over mid-wicket and long-on.
He also used the depth of the crease really well against both the spinners as was displayed in his delicate touches behind the wicket.
Trouble-free progress
Earlier in the morning, the Australian lower middle-order continued to bat without trouble against the India-A bowlers.
Mitchell Marsh and Matthew Wade exercised caution against the pacers, especially against Navdeep Saini who continued to impress with his nippy bowling.
Once the spinners came on, Wade started employing the sweep at will, while Mitchell Marsh began to open his shoulders.
The sweep shot eventually brought about Wade’s dismissal as he top-edged Herwadkar, who had to continue shouldering the responsibility of an off-spinner with K. Gowtham unable to bowl, to offer Pant an easy catch before lunch.
Pant had taken the gloves from Ishan Kishan halfway into the opening session.
After the break, Mitchell Marsh started playing more aggressively, hitting a huge six off Shahbaz Nadeeem.
Soon after, he failed to get the elevation right off the left-arm spinner and holed out to substitute B. Indrajith at mid-off.
The scores:
Australians — 1st innings: David Warner c Kishan b Saini 25, Matt Renshaw c Kishan b Saini 11, Steven Smith retd. out 107, Shaun Marsh retd. out 104, Peter Handscomb c Panchal b Pandya 45, Mitchell Marsh c sub b Nadeem 75, Matthew Wade c Pant b Herwadkar 64, Glenn Maxwell (not out) 16, Stephen O’Keefe (not out) 8; Extras (b-5, lb-2, nb-6, w-1): 14; Total (for seven wkts. decl. in 127 overs): 469.
Fall of wickets: 1-33, 2-55, 3-211, 4-290, 5-305, 6-434, 7-454.
India-A bowling: Ashoke Dinda 21.2-1-78-0, Hardik Pandya 22-3-84-1, Navdeep Saini 19.4-7-42-2, Shahbaz Nadeem 33-1-126-1, Akhil Herwadkar 15-0-64-1, Shreyas Iyer 12-0-57-0, Priyank Panchal 4-0-11-0.
India-A: Akhil Herwadkar c & b Lyon 4, Priyank Panchal c Handscomb b Lyon 36, Shreyas Iyer (batting) 85, Ankeet Bawne lbw b Bird 25, Hardik Pandya c Wade b Bird 19, Rishabh Pant (batting) 3; Extras (lb-4): 4; Total (for four wkts. in 51 overs): 176.
Fall of wickets: 1-19, 2-63, 3-120, 4-172.
Australians bowling: Jackson Bird 11-7-15-2, Mitchell Marsh 9-2-26-0, Nathan Lyon 17-3-72-2, Stephen O’Keefe 14-1-59-0 .
