India A vs Australia Warm-Up Match Day 3 Round Up: Shreyas Iyer slams double century as match ends in a draw
The Australian cricket team began their tour of India with a draw against an impressive India A side at the Brabourne cricket stadium in Mumbai earlier today. Beginning the day at 176-4 with Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer at the crease, the two batsmen were looking to build a solid partnership but were stopped by Steven O' Keefe who picked up the wicket of youngster Pant in the 61st over. There was a lot expected from the youngster, but unfortunately, he was unable to produce the goods.
However, the day belonged to Shreyas Iyer who slammed his highest ever score in first-class cricket as he took the attack to the opposition bowlers despite not getting a lot of assistance from the other batsmen. Iyer remained unbeaten on 202 as India were bowled out for 404 in their first innings. He did not spare any Australian bowler as he hit 27 fours and 7 huge sixes at a phenomenal strike-rate of 96.19
Krishnappa Gowtham was the only other batsman who crossed the half-century mark with a quick-fire knock of 74 in 68 deliveries with ten fours and four sixes to his name. The Australian spinners were the pick of the bowlers as Nathan Lyon picked up four wickets while O’Keefe bagged three.
The Australians came out to bat with a little less than half the day left and would have hoped to get a lot of runs on the board, but the Indian bowlers were up to the task as they did not allow any of the batsmen to settle down for too long. They picked up wickets at regular intervals to restrict the Kangaroos to 110-4 at the end of the day’s play.
Once again, Warner got off to a brisk start but was unable to convert that into a big score as he was dismissed after scoring 35 as Ashok Dinda picked up his first wicket of the match. Navdeep Saini's impressive streak continued as he too picked up the wicket of the dangerous Glen Maxwell.
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Surprisingly, Rishabh Pant was a part of the wicket takers as well as he picked up the wicket of Peter Handscomb who was looking good in his knock of 37.
At the end of the day, the Indian outfit would have been the happier one as they managed to cross the 400 run mark in their innings and did not allow Australia to get going in the 2nd innings of the match.
The first Test between India and Australia will take place at the Maharashtra Cricket Association stadium in Pune on February 23rd.