Akhil Herwadkar took India A to stumps at 158 for four in the second innings on Day 3 of the ongoing four-day game against Australia A. The visitors were trailing by 108 runs at the end of day’s play after bowling the hosts out for 435 in the first innings earlier in the day in Brisbane.
Resuming on 319 for five, the Australians continued to pile on runs. Hilton Cartwright who was a run short of his century at the end of third day’s play, went on to score 117 before he was sent back by Shardul Thakur. The Indian pacer ended the sixth wicket partnership of 76 to give the visitors their first breakthrough for the day. 48 runs later, Jayant Yadav then followed up with the wicket of Kane Richardson while, Varun Aaron claimed Sam Whiteman with the team still on 404.
After 31 runs, Jayant Yadav and Shardul claimed Jackson Bird and Chadd Sayers off successive overs to wrap up the Australia A innings. While the pacer finished with a five-for, the spinner had three wickets in the bag. Bowled out for 435, Australia A had seized a healthy 266-run lead.
Herwadkar then led India A’s reply stoically. The India A openers bided their time at the crease as they looked to shape the response. However, with the team on 84, Faiz Fazal was run out and two runs later Karun Nair was trapped lbw by J Holland. The left-arm spinner then accounted for Manish Pandey and Naman Ojha to leave the visitors on 100 for the loss of three wickets.
While wickets fell at one end, Herwadkar watchfully anchored the innings and kept the scoreboard ticking. He took the team to stumps in an unbroken 58-run partnership with Sanju Samson.
Brief scores:
Day 1 – India A 1st inn 169/9 in 66 overs (H Pandya 79*, J Yadav 28, K Richardson 3/37, J Bird 3/53)
Day 2 – India A 1st inn 169/10 in 66.4 overs (H Pandya 79, K Richardson 4/37); Australia A 1st inn 319/5 in 91 overs (H Cartwright 99*, N Maddinson 81, B Webster 79, S Thakur 3/71) Lead by 150 runs
Day 3 - Australia A 1st inn 435/10 in 124.1 overs (H Cartwright 117, S Whiteman 51, S Thakur 5/101, J Yadav 3/95); India A 2nd inn 158/4 in 60 overs (A Herwadkar 82*, S Samson 34*, J Holland 3/59) Trail by 108 runs
