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India A, Australia A in a grim battle for victory

India A need a further 199 runs to win the match against Australia A

India A and Australia A are locked in a tight battle for win

Bengaluru, September 4: Both India A and Australia A have reasons to fancy their chances of a victory at the end of a gruelling third day's play of the four-day game here at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Tuesday (September 4).

India A: The Shreyas Iyer led side is 63 for two at close and they need a further 199 runs to complete the chase successfully. Of course, they have lost Shreyas and A Easwaran but the in-form Mayank Agarwal and Ankit Bawane are still in the middle and that should give them hope of a victory.

Australia A: Their biggest hope is the way the pitch behaved on Day 3. The 22-yard trampoline was a bit up and down and their bowlers, particularly left-arm spinner Jon Holland and paceman Michael Neser looked quite a handful in the final session. Australia will be hoping for a nagging effort from them and others on the final day.

The Australia A bowlers have indeed been courageous in this match and the quick men were not reluctant to employ short-pitched balls even on a gradually slowing down pitch. But credit must also go for their batsmen for entering a slug fest with the Indian bowlers in their second essay.

Led by their doughty skipper Travis Head, Australia A batsmen build small partnerships to stretch their second innings total to a commendable 292 - an effort that went in line with Usman Khawaja's stated desire of an improved second innings effort from the batsman. Khawaja, who had made a hundred in the first innings, looked compact while making 40 and it took another incoming delivery from Mohammed Siraj to end his tenure.

But Head combined with the middle and late order batsmen to take the Australia A innings forward despite losing wickets along the way and Siraj once again proved the biggest threat picking up three wickets. Unlike in the first innings, spinners Kuldeep Yadav and K Gowtham played a larger role picking up four wickets equally among them.

But that grittiness Australia A batsmen showed will stand as beacon for their Indian counterparts in their pursuit of victory.

Story first published: Tuesday, September 4, 2018, 20:42 [IST]
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