Varun Aaron and Jayant Yadav claimed three wickets each with the pink ball to bowl India A to a two-run first innings lead in the first four-day match against Australia A. The visitors bowled the home team out for 228 after they had resumed their innings on 25 on the second morning.
At the end of day’s play, India A were leading by 46 runs with eight wickets in hand. After losing both openers – Akhil Herwadkar and Faiz Fazal - Shreyas Iyer (6*) and Manish Pandey (7*) took the team to 44 for two until play was stopped due to bat light and was later called off.
Earlier, Aaron gave India A an early breakthrough with the wicket of Cameron Bancroft with the hosts on 29. Shardul Thakur then had Travis Dean edge the ball to the slips where Pandey took the catch to reduce Australia A to 39 for two.
However, Joe Burns and Peter Handscomb then stitched a 118-run partnership to rebuild the innings and seize the advantage from India A. But, Hardik Pandya’s double strike then shifted the balance back in India A’s favour after lunch. Karun Nair took a superb catch at backward point to send back Burns. The all-rounder then followed up with the wicket of Marcus Stoinis to leave the hosts on 169 for four. The Australia A captain was the next to be dismissed. He was run out for 87.
Yadav then claimed Sam Whiteman and Chadd Sayers off successive overs and the Australians were struggling on 200 for the loss of seven wickets. After 20 runs, Aaron drew an edge from Beau Webster through to the wicketkeeper at the stroke of Tea.
In the final session, Yadav accounted for Mitchell Swepson while Aaron followed up with the wicket of Daniel Worrall to warp-up the Australia A first innings for 228.
Brief scores:
Day 1 - India A 1st inn 230/10 in 81.3 overs (M Pandey 77, F Fazal 48, M Swepson 4/28, D Moody 3/26); Australia A 1st inn 25/0 in 6 overs (J Burns 12*, C Bancroft 10*) Trail by 205 runs
Day 2 - Australia A 1st inn 228/10 in 63.3 overs (P Handscomb 87, J Burns 78, V Aaron 3/41, J Yadav 3/44); India A 2nd inn 44/2 in 12 overs (A Herwadkar 23, M Pandey 7*, S Iyer 6*, D Worrall 1/16) Lead by 46 runs with 8 wickets in hand
