Youngsters Sai Sudarshan and Devdutt Padikkal are close to turning centuries as they bat fiercely on the Australian pitch. India A took a 120-run lead on the second day of the unofficial Test against Australia A on Friday. Sudarshan is 96 years old, while Padikkal is unbeaten on 80 runs. Mukesh Kumar took 6 wickets for 46 runs as India-A restricted Australia-A to 195 runs in the first innings. After bowling out India A for 107 runs in the first innings, Australia A took a lead of 88 runs.
India A also got off to a poor start in the second innings as captain Ruturaj Gaikwad was out after scoring 5 runs and opener Abhimanyu Easwaran was out after scoring 12 runs. India lost two wickets for 30 runs in 8.5 overs. After this, Padikkal and Sudarshan took the team to 208 runs for two wickets. Gaikwad, who couldn’t even open the account in the first innings, was caught by Cameron Bancroft at second slip off Fergus O’Neil’s ball.
Easwaran, who earned a place in the senior team in the upcoming Test series against Australia as cover for captain Rohit Sharma by scoring four consecutive centuries in first-class cricket, has been left without a team. After this, Sudarshan and Padikkal formed an unbroken partnership of 178 runs. Sudarshan scored 96 runs in 185 balls, while Padikkal is unbeaten with 80 runs in 167 balls.
India-A now has a lead of 120 runs, with two days left for the match. The second and final unofficial test will be played in Melbourne from November 7. Earlier, playing with 99 runs for four wickets, Australians Nathan McSweeney (39) and Cooper Connolly (37) added 51 runs for the fifth wicket. Mukesh, who took two wickets on the first day, broke this partnership by dismissing Connolly.
Josh Philip became his fourth victim, while Nitish Kumar Reddy sent McSweeney to the ward. Mukesh ended the Australia-A innings by dismissing Brendan Doggett and Todd Murphy.
