India A vs Australia A: Top-order a worry as Wriddhiman Saha helps visitors eke out draw

India A vs Australia A drawn: It was again worrying signs at the top as the India A batsmen failed to stick it out at the crease during the second innings of the three-day practice match against Australia A here at the Drummoyne Oval on Tuesday. While the game ended in a draw, at one stage it looked like the Australia A unit would walk away with a win. But it was Wriddhiman Saha who showed some fight and managed to keep the host bowlers at bay.

While the Ajinkya Rahane-led side declared their second innings at 189/9 — setting Australia A a target of 131 in about 15 overs — no batsman got going in the second innings and at one stage, the side was looking down the barrel at 143/9. But in the end, Saha managed to salvage some pride as he played an unbeaten knock of 54 runs. Australia A lost the wicket of Joe Burns (0) in the very first over of the innings and after that, the side looked to play out the remaining overs. In the end, the three-day match ended in a draw.
Earlier, resuming day three at 286/8, Australia A added 20 more runs to their tally and the hosts finally declared at 306/9, with a lead of 59 runs over the visitors. Cameron Green remained unbeaten on 125 while for India, Umesh Yadav and Mohammad Siraj scalped three wickets each.

For India A, Prithvi Shaw and Shubman Gill once again failed to get a big score behind their backs. Both the opening batsmen were dismissed by Green after playing knocks of 19 and 29 respectively. Gill looked good during his short stint at the crease, hitting five boundaries, but his dismissal left a lot to be desired for someone looking to make it into the Test team.

Cheteshwar Pujara, who scored a fighting 54 in the first innings, failed to register a run in the second innings and was dismissed for a duck by Michael Neser. Hanuma Vihari then joined skipper Ajinkya Rahane and the duo somewhat retrieved the innings for the visitors. The two put on 54 runs for the fourth wicket, but as soon as India A started to look settled, Michael Neser provided the breakthrough of Vihari (28). Soon after, Mark Steketee dismissed Rahane (28), Ravichandran Ashwin (8), and Kuldeep Yadav (0), putting the visitors on the backfoot at 129/7, 70 runs ahead of Australia A.

India A looked set to be bowled out cheaply, but Saha and Kartik Tyagi managed to frustrate the hosts, with the former bringing up his half-century as well. Both batsmen formed an unbeaten tenth-wicket partnership of 46 runs, and India A declared at 189/9.

Brief Scores: India 247/9d and 189/9d (Wriddhiman Saha 54*, Shubman Gill 29; Mark Steketee 5-37); Australia A 306/9 (Cameron Green 125*, Tim Paine 44; Umesh Yadav 3-48) and 52/1 (Marcus Harris 25*, Will Pucovski 23; Umesh Yadav 1-14)

Earlier, resuming on 237/8, the Ajinkya Rahane-led India A side added 10 more runs to their overnight total before declaring their innings on 247/9. Rahane remained unbeaten on 117. Coming to bowl, Umesh Yadav and Ravichandran Ashwin were seen at their best as the duo dismantled the top-order of Australia A and it was only Marcus Harris (35) who could show some fight in the middle. Australia A lost wickets at regular intervals with Umesh dismissing Will Pucovski (1) and Joe Burns (4), while Ashwin sent Harris (35) and Nic Maddinson (23) back to the pavilion. Mohammad Siraj also got one wicket as he clean bowled skipper Travis Head (18), reducing the hosts to 98/5.

However, Cameron Green and Tim Paine then got together at the crease and both batsmen frustrated the visitors by mixing caution with aggression. Green was the more aggressive of the two and he took a liking for the Indian bowling attack.

Both batters put on 104 runs for the sixth wicket, however, after the tea interval, it was once again Umesh who provided the side with a much-needed breakthrough. He had Paine (44) caught by Prithvi Shaw, reducing Australia A to 202/6. Soon after, Siraj sent back James Pattinson (2) to the pavilion, giving India A hopes of walking away with a lead.

Michael Neser then provided the much-needed support to Green in the middle and the duo put on 49 runs for the eighth wicket and this took Australia A ahead in the match. However, in trying to scrape through for a quick single, Neser (33) ended being run out, reducing Australia A to 269/8. In the end, Green (114*) and Mark Steketee (1*) saw out the remaining overs in the day.

Brief Scores: India 247/9 (Ajinkya Rahane 117*, Cheteshwar Pujara 54; James Pattinson 3-58); Australia A 286/8 (Cameron Green 114*, Tim Paine 44; Umesh Yadav 3-44)

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