Sydney, Jan.10 : Indian opener Wasim Jaffer roared back into form on Thursday with a smashing 92 and helped the Indian cricket team to declare their first innings at 325 runs at the loss of nine wickets against the Australia Combined Territories team at Manuka Oval in Canberra.

India lost their first wicket Virender Sehwag in 21st over. Virender Sehwag, who scored just 24 runs, was caught at second slip by skipper Mark Higgs off Swards in 20.1 over while Karthik (post-lunch) pulled Swards to mid-on where Perera took an easy catch.

Rahul Dravid smashed 62 crucial runs. Middle-order southpaw Yuvraj Singh's struggle on Australian soil continued as he was caught at gully for just two runs. However, captain MS Dhoni and all-rounder Irfan Pathan chipped in with 38 and 33 runs respectively.

For ACT XI, AJW Perera and LC Swards were very effective. Perera picked two wickets while Swards claimed three victims.

Earlier, the stand-in India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and decided to bat first.

The warm-up match is to be played over two days. Since it is not a first class match, both sides have fielded 12 men. And the Indians rested Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Sourav Ganguly and Anil Kumble for this game.

Teams

Indians: W Jaffer, V Sehwag, KD Karthik, R Dravid, RP Singh, Yuvraj Singh, I Sharma, MS Dhoni, Harbhajan Singh, IK Pathan, Pankaj Singh and VRV Singh.

ACT Invitational XI: JL Crosthwaite, R Starr, RR Sherlock, J Dean, AM Ritchard, LC Swards, CJL Rogers, RW Bulger, AJW Perera, MA Higgs, EJM Cowan and JW Rogers.

ANI