Spinner Rassol's superb 7-45 helps Board President's XI bowl out Australia

Jammu Kashmir spinner Parvez Rassol spun a web around the visiting Australians, snaffling a rich haul of 7 for 45 to bowl them out for a modest 241 on the opening day of their two-day side game at the India Cement Limited Guru Nanak College Ground in Chennai on Tuesday.

Rassol was the one who broke the defiant 77-run opening stand between Ed Cowan and Usman Khawaja when he had the former caught behind by Parthiv Patel for 58. Khawaja soon perished for 32.

Rassol got into the thick of things, snuffing out Australian captain Matthew Wade for 35. Steven Smith hung around to provide some stability to the Aussies, scoring a fine 41 as they looked reasonably comfortable at 191 for 4.

Glenn Maxwell fell to Stuart Binny for an eight-ball duck, pouched by Parthiv behind the wicket.

The last six Australian wickets fell for a mere 51 runs, as Rassol created disorder in the visitors’ batting line-up. He prised out Peter Siddle, James Patinson, Jackson Bird and Ashton Agar to finish with returns of 7 for 45 from 28.3 overs.

The 23-year-old was well complemented by Punjab tweaker Sarabjit Ladda, who bagged two wickets.

Earlier, Australia made first use of the wicket after winning the toss. The opening duo of Ed Cowan and Usman Khawaja looked rock-solid against the Board President’s XI opening ball operators – Shami Ahmed and Parvinder Awana.

Shami looked good only in patches, while Parvinder kept things tight from one end.