Yet another top order collapse saw India A fail to make inroads over Australia A on day two of the second unofficial Test at Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on Friday.
From 25/1 to 56/5, India A lost five wickets for 31 runs including wickets of KL Rahul (10), Ruturaj Gaikwad (11), and Abhimanyu Easwaran (17).
Sai Sudharsan fell for three and Devdutt Padikkal could only score one off 19 balls as Australian bowlers ran through the top order.
Openers Easwaran and Rahul added 25 runs for the first wicket before the former was caught at gully off Nathan McAndrew, who also had Gaikwad struck in front. Beau Webster then had Sudharsan caught at slips and later removed Padikkal as well.
Rahul negotiated the early seam movement and looked set after playing 43 balls but got out off the very first ball of spin, off Corey Rocchiccioli, in a bizarre fashion as he decided not to play the ball which ricochet off his pads and hit the stumps.
Dhruv Jurel, who bailed his team out in the first innings, and Nitish Kumar Reddy survived the last 45 minutes and took India A to 73/5 at stumps, with a lead of 11 runs.
India-A vs Australia-A Day 2 Highlights
Earlier, India A bowled out the host for 223 but conceded a 63-run lead thanks to late strikes by Rocchiccioli (35 off 28 balls) and McAndrew (26 not out).
Prasidh Krishna’s four-for gave India a chance to limit the lead when it reduced Australia A to 167/8 but Rocchiccioli hit three fours and two sixes, and McAndrew found the fence twice to inflate the advantage.
India had begun the day bowling in favourable conditions. Khaleel Ahmed struck early to remove overnight batter, Sam Konstas. Mukesh Kumar and Krishna too joined with a wicket each.
However, Jimmy Peirson (30 and Marcus Harris (74) joined hands to add 68 runs for the sixth wicket as conditions improved to bat despite rain interrupting nearly one hour of play. Krishna struck again to remove the duo who took the home team past India A’s 161.
