CA XI vs India, 4-day Practice Match, Day 4, Review: Bowlers strain but Vijay and Rahul make amends

After the first day’s play was called-off, it was pretty evident that the four-day practice match between India and Cricket Australia XI would end in a draw. However, India had a strenuous day in the office on the fourth day, which is expected to prepare them for the upcoming series against Australia. The Indian bowlers conceded a few runs, but their batsmen came to the party.

Lower order delivers for CA XI

Harry Nielsen and Aaron Hardie were the overnight batsmen with the score at 356/6 and the duo carried on with their rich vein of form in the fourth day’s morning as well. They added 57 more runs after which Hardie was nipped out by speedster Ishant Sharma. Hardie, following his four-wicket haul, played a superlative knock of 86 runs off 141 balls with ten fours and a six.

Nielsen scored a magnificent century with nine boundaries and surprisingly, he fell prey to Indian captain Virat Kohli. The lower order didn’t fall down like a pack of cards. Rather, they buckled down and added some valuable runs. Daniel Fallins, Luke Robbins and Jackson Coleman scored 43, 38 and 36 runs respectively to take CA’s scored to a significant 544 in 151.1 overs.

Vijay comes to the party  

Albeit, CA took a lead of 186 runs, India didn’t have much to worry about. KL Rahul and Murali Vijay opened the batting and the duo creamed the opposition bowling to score 109 runs in 184 balls. Rahul, who has strained with the bat over the past few months, played a patient knock of 62 runs from 98 deliveries. He was eventually dismissed by part-timer D’Arcy Short.

However, Vijay was in a different zone and the experienced campaigner set the stage on fire with a knock of 129 runs from 132 balls with six boundaries and as many as five sixes. During the closing stages of the day, he laid into off-spinner Jake Carder and smacked him all around the park. After Fallins rattled Vijay’s woodwork, the curtains came down on the match.

Brief Scores

India: 358 all out in 92 overs; (Prithvi Shaw 66, Virat Kohli 64; Aaron Hardie 4/50, D’Arcy Short 1/42)

CA: 544 all out in 151.1 overs; (Harry Nielsen 100, Aaron Hardie 86; Mohammed Shami 3/97, Ravichandran Ashwin 2/122)

India: 211/2 in 43.4 overs; (Murali Vijay 129, KL Rahul 62; D’Arcy Short 1/34, Daniel Fallins 1/51)

Match Drawn  

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