The first four-day match of the unofficial Test series being held between India A and Australia A saw a tense close on the final day, with the hosts inching home by 3 wickets. Chasing 159 for victory in the fourth innings, Australia A were 59/4 at Stumps on Day 3 and needed 100 more runs to clinch the contest. Day 4 was expected to be a tough one for both sides and so it turned out to be, but Cameron Bancroft, the Australian wicket-keeper batsman, showed immense resolve and finished with an unbeaten 58 off 151 balls with 6 fours to guide his team to victory.
Resuming play at 59/4, Bancroft stitched a 57-run partnership with Beau Webster and brought down the trail to just 52 runs, before Varun Aaron trapped Webster leg-before-wicket, to give India another chance at a possible comeback. However, Sam Whiteman added 24 more runs with the wicket-keeper opening batsman and reduced India A’s chances to a rubble.
Although Jayant Yadav got Whiteman caught at the hands of Shahbaz Nadeem, it was already too late for the visitors as the damage had already been done. Chadd Sayers made 15 before being bowled by Shardul Thakur, but by then, there were just 2 more runs remaining for Australia A to score. A leg bye for four off Mitchell Swepson sealed the deal for the home side in Brisbane.
India A falter in the second innings
Earlier, in what had transpired as some intense cricket action over the course of three days, India A were bowled out for 230 in their first innings, with Manish Pandey top scoring with 77. This was seen as a modest total at best, but the Indian bowlers staged a dramatic comeback to bowl the hosts out for 228, even as Peter Handscomb and Joe Burns scored 87 and 78 respectively.
Varun Aaron and Jayant Yadav picked up three-wickets-a-piece for India in the first innings while Mitchell Swepson picked up 4/78 for Australia.
It was the second innings, however, where India A faltered and gave away the advantage to their opponents, as they were bowled out for just 156 in 48 overs, thereby setting a sizeable target of 159 for Australia to chase in the 4th innings. The visitors did give themselves a shot at an improbable victory by picking up four quick wickets in the final session of Day 3 to reduce Australia A to 59/4, but couldn’t carry on the momentum into the final day, as a Bancroft masterclass sealed the run-chase for the home side.
The second unofficial Test starts in Brisbane on September 15.
Brief Scores: Australia A 228 & 161/7 (Bancroft 58, Webster 30, Thakur 3/42) beat India A 230 & 156 (Jayant Yadav 46, Chadd Sayers 3/21, Daniel Worrall 3/43) by 3 wickets.
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