India A seamer Prasidh Kriishna (4 for 50) stood out among the ruins as he claimed four Australia A wickets in the first innings of the second ‘A’ series match at the MCG, on Friday.
Overnight on 53-2, Australia lost an early wicket when left-arm pacer Khaleel Ahmed sent Sam Konstas (3) packing.
Opener and overnight batter Marcus Harris and Oliver Davies were just starting to put on a stand when the latter went for a slog and mistimed it. He was caught at mid-on to be the first of Krishna’s victims.
Australia lost half the side when Mukesh Kumar struck five overs later, to have Beau Webster caught at slips for 5.
Jimmy Peirson joined Harris in the middle and steadied their ship.
Pierson looked in good nick, hitting 5 boundaries while Harris was happy to rotate the strike and pick the singles and twos
They put on a 68-run, 6th wicket stand, before Krishna came back to break the partnership with Pierson out for 30.
Three overs later, Krishna broke Harris’s resistance and sent him back for 70 and then sent Scott Boland out for a first-ball duck.
The hosts then took a 62-run lead after Nathan McAndrew (26 not out) and Corey Rocchiccioli (35) put on a 56-run stand for the 8th wicket to help Australia A put on 223 on the board.
KL Rahul gets bowled between his legs by Corey Rocchiccioli
In reply, India A saw another top order collapse and were left reeling at 5 for 56.
Abhimanyu Easwaran (17), Sai Sudarshan (3) were the first two to go before Ruturaj Gaikwad (11) was out LBW by Nathan McAndrew for just 11.
KL Rahul also didn’t do much to garner the selectors’ confidence, out bowled in a bizarre fashion.
While looking to leave the ball, he moved across his stumps, the ball hit his back pad and crashed into the woodwork through his legs. The bowler, Rocchiccioli and everyone was caught by surprise at the manner of the dismissal as they celebrated Rahul’s departure for 10 off 44 balls.
Dhruv Jurel and Devdutt Padikkal held fort for sometime before the latter was caught out at slips for 1.
Jurel and Nitish Kumar Reddy then safely saw off the bowling to stay 73 for 5 till close of play, taking a 11-run lead.
Brief Scores:
India A: 161 and 73/5 in 31 overs (Dhruv Jurel 19 batting; Nathan McAndrew 2/22, Beau Webster 2/14).
Australia A: 1st innings: 223 all out in 62.1 (Marcus Harris 74; Prasidh Krishna 4/50, Mukesh Kumar 3/41, Khaleel Ahmed 2/56).
