An impressive first innings of 451 from India ‘A’ was good enough to make Australia stutter.
Australia’s warm-up match against India ‘A’ will hardly have boosted their confidence, before the Baggy Greens face India on Friday in the first Test of a four match series.
The game was being played in Chennai, so the Australian’s could get used to the pitch before the first Test there, but their performance won’t have India worrying just yet.
India ‘A’ batted first, with Australia fielding three spinners in the humid conditions. However, the trio of Nathan Lyon, Xavier Doherty and Ashton Agar were all knocked about by India’s second-string batsmen.
Gautam Ghambir, who was recently axed form the full squad, helped the ‘A’ team to an average of over four runs an over against the spinners and he was eventually dismissed for 112. Manoj Tiwary then took up the mantle, batting through until close of play on the first day. He went on to make 129.
In reply to the 451 set by India ‘A’, Australia struggled and were all out for 235 – despite Shane Watson hitting 84 runs. This total was not enough to avoid the follow-on, but at the second time of asking the Australians batted to 195-3 and the match was declared a draw.
Watson added 60 runs from 63 balls in the second innings, to make it two half-centuries for the match, but the Aussie top-order were far from impressive.
The decision to leave captain Michael Clarke and opener David Warner out of the side means two of Australia’s most experienced batsman will go into Friday’s opener with very little Test practice.
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