India A vs Australia A, 1st Unofficial Test, Day 4, Review: Stunning bowling by the visitors earns them a 1-0 lead

Australia A made a miraculous comeback in the 1st Unofficial Test against India A. After being bundled out for a cheap score in the first innings, they restricted India A and ensured that the hosts didn’t get a big lead in the first innings. The team batted its hearts out in the second innings and put up a huge total for India A to chase down on the last three days.

After having lost two wickets in the 20 overs that they played towards the end of the third day, India A continued to bat from the overnight score of 63/2. The Indians needed to chase 199 runs on the final day of the game in order to win the match. However, their performance on the day was absolutely pathetic.

The middle-order fails terribly

Mayank Agarwal, who was unbeaten on 25 came out to bat with Ankit Bawne. Bawne, after scoring 25 runs got out in the 18th over of the day. What followed after his wicket was just horrific. The team just kept on losing wickets. Jon Holland was over the top of the Indian batsmen and was absolutely tantalising them with some unplayable deliveries.

Ravikumar Samarth was dismissed for 8 runs by Travis Head. The batsman ended up pushing one back towards the bowler here and ended up being caught. Soon, after his dismissal, wicketkeeper Srikar Bharat got out for a duck to Brendan Doggett and Krishnappa Gowtham followed him back to the pavilion after being dismissed for zero.

India A went into lunch with 128 runs on the board. But, they had lost 6 wickets by then and still had to get 134 runs which was quite an uphill task. However, Mayank Agarwal was still battling it out there in the middle to help the team reach as close to the target as possible. But, he was running out of partners as none of the last seven batsmen even managed to get to the double-figure mark which was really disappointing.

Agarwal perished after scoring 80 runs and he was the 9th wicket to fall. Ankit Rajpoot was dismissed for a golden duck the next ball after Mayank as the side was bundled out for 163 runs. India A only managed to add 100 runs to their total on the fourth day and lost 8 wickets. Australia A won the game by 98 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the 2-match series. Jon Holland picked a 6-wicket haul while Brendan Doggett picked two wickets.

Brief Scores:

Australia A: 243 after 75.3 overs (U Khawaja 127; M Siraj 8/59) & 292 after 83.5 overs (T Head 87; M Siraj 3/87)

India A: 274 after 83.1 overs (A Bawne 91*, M Agarwal 47; M Neser 4/61, Jon Holland 3/89) & 163/10 after 59.3 overs (M Agarwal 80; Jon Holland 6/81)

State of the Match: Australia A won the match by 98 runs.

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