The second and last three-day tour match between Australia A and the touring Indian team ended in a draw as the pair of Jack Wildermuth and Ben McDermott put on an unbeaten 165 runs partnership to defy Indian from taking a mental advantage of a win going into the first Test match.
The Indians declared their second innings overnight as it was evident from the approach of batsmen last night and set an improbable target of 473 runs to chase on the final day of the game.
The move was clear as the tourists wanted their bowlers to get back into the rhythm required for the Test format after a fairly long time away from it. In the end, it could be said that they were able to extract the best outcomes out of the three-day game at the SCG.
Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah got into the groove immediately as the top order of the Australia A faltered yet again against their immaculate lines and lengths. Shnmi bowled with a plan and the wicket of Marcus Harris who was caught at the leg slip off a ball sliding down the leg side was not born out of luck but on the back of specific tactical moves and perfect execution.
Time was running out for Joe Burns who had been selected for the first Test but his continuous struggle with the bat had him under all sorts of pressure while facing Shami and Bumrah. In a bid to counter Bumrah’s away going delivery after coming in with the angle and with his insecurity about the off stump, Burns looked resolved to change his guard and took a forward press across the line of the off stumps. But, Shami was too sharp for him and the chink that Bumrah had exposed in his armour in the first innings, was capitalised by another pacer in the group who caught him rooted to the crease in front of the stumps to deepen his misery.
Mohammed Siraj turned out to be an effective third seamer in the game and bowled tight lengths to back up the level set by the pair of Shami and Bumrah. On the other hand, Saini looked rusty and has not looked like the possessing qualities at least now for which he was picked for this tour.
Saini was a competitor for the third seamer role after the exclusion of Ishant Sharma but may well have fallen behind Siraj and Umesh Yadav in order of preference for the team management going into the first Test.
After the dinner break, once again Bumrah and Shami started testing the Australian young batsmen but the pair of Wildermuth and McDermott weathered the storm and served India a valuable lesson about playing with the pink ball.
After Rahane got enough of what he wanted out of the pacers, he called upon the part-time spin of Mayank Agarwal and Prithvi Shaw while Hanuma Vihari was called into chip in as a specialist off-spinner.
Vihari has grabbed the opportunities with both hands throughout his career and the match was a no different case as he most certainly has locked in a slot for him with a century with the bat and added that with a wicket of Alex Carey who was looking ominous. Vihari can be the key for the Indians being an off-spinner who can be relied upon to bowl 10-12 overs in a day, especially if they decided to go in with four seamers in Adelaide.
The batting unit barring few such as Prithvi Shaw and the captain Rahane clicked well in the game while the bowling unit looked sharp and ready for the gruelling Test series.
Powered by Froala Editor