Leg-spinner Amit Mishra, who has been recalled to the Test squad for the tour to Sri Lanka, also joined in the act, removing wicketkeeper-batsman Matthew Wade and tailender Andrew Fekete.
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India “A” left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha struck thrice in quick succession but Australia “A” recovered from the setbacks to reach 185/4 at stumps on Day 2 of the first four-day cricket match at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium here on Thursday. Karun Nair and Shreyas Iyer then took the total to 121 for 3 by stumps. Abhinav Mukund (40) and skipper Cheteshwar Pujara (42) missed out on fifties.
Marcus Stoinis contributed 77 runs with his willow. It was the same pair that did the rebuilding job after Ojha three-wicket burst yesterday.
Ojha, back in the mix after 18 months, took a five-wicket haul to help India A bowl out Australia A for 268 in their first innings.
Shankar on his part was unbeaten on 51 off 135 balls with five fours and a six.
“Playing for the country is priority for any cricketer”.
Brief scores: India A 301 (Vijay Shankar 51 not out; Steve O’Keefe 6-82) against Australia A 185/4 (Peter Handscomb 75 n.o., Marcus Stoinis 42 not out; Pragyan Ojha 3-52).
Opener Lokesh Rahul had got out to Travis Head after making a 45-ball 29.
Harbhajan Singh was retained in the Indian team while Amit Mishra made a comeback after four years. Head went as Mishra snapped him up off Ojha’s bowling.
Having secured a slender 33-run lead, India started well with KL Rahul getting the innings off to a flier, carving 29 runs – out of the 39 scored while he was around – in 45 deliveries with four fours and a six.
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Perhaps another wicket would have given Australia A the edge going into the final day, but that wasn’t to be as Nair and Iyer, two of India’s most talented young batsmen, kept them from doing any further damage.
