India A vs Australia Warm-Up Match Day 1 Round Up: Steve Smith and Shaun Marsh score centuries after poor start
The Australian cricket team sent a strong message to the Virat Kohli’s side as they began the tour in strong fashion against the India A side for a three-day Test at the Brabourne cricket stadium in Mumbai.
After winning the toss, India A, led by all-rounder Hardik Pandya opted to field first. As usual, David Warner got off to a brisk start and put on a partnership of 33 runs in 8 overs along with Matt Renshaw. It was medium pacer Navdeep Saini who got the crucial breakthrough in the 9th over by getting Warner caught behind.
The 24-year-old from Haryana continued to impress as he picked up the wicket of Renshaw as well in the 17th over in similar fashion, with wicket-keeper Ishan Kishan taking the catch behind the stumps.
With India A in the driver's seat at the interval for drinks, it was up to captain Steve Smith and Shaun Marsh to revive the innings. They did so in spectacular fashion as the duo put up a partnership of 156 runs before Smith retired hurt shortly after scoring his century. Peter Handscomb and Marsh continued to take the attack to the Indian bowlers as the latter went to score a century as well, after which, he too retired hurt. Pandya, who had a poor outing with the ball had something to cheer for when he dismissed Handscomb in the 81st over.
Mitchell Marsh and Matthew Wade ensured no further hiccups for the Kangaroos as they were at the crease at the end of the day with 327 runs on the board with the loss of three wickets.
Apart from Saini, none of the Indian bowlers were too impressive. Shahbaz Nadeem, who was the highest wicket-taker in the Ranji Trophy for the last two seasons failed to pick up a single wicket and gave away 90 runs in 23 overs at an economy rate of 3.91.
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Akhil Herwadkar, Shreyas Iyer, and Priyank Panchal were all given a chance to bowl but were unsuccessful as none of them managed to pick up a wicket.
The Australians would look to increase their lead tomorrow and look to declare their innings after achieving a healthy total. On the other hand, the Indian bowlers would look to improve on their poor performance and grab some quick wickets and bowl the Kangaroos out before they come out to bat.