Shams Mulani spins India A to 162-run win over Australia A

Shams Mulani took seven wickets in the match as India A defeated Australia A by 162 runs in the opening four-day fixture at Puducherry. Australia A, chasing 363, were bowled out for 200 shortly after lunch on Friday.

Puducherry: Left-arm spinner Shams Mulani took three wickets in the second innings to return a match-haul of seven for 124 as India A recorded a thumping 162-run win over Australia A about half an hour after lunch on the concluding day of the first four-day fixture at the CAP-Siechem Stadium here on Friday.

Resuming their second innings at 55/2, and requiring another 308 for victory, Australia A were bowled out for 200, with Mulani scalping three at the end, including top-scorer Fergus O’Neill (47, 52b, 6×4, 1×6) caught at deep mid wicket.

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Medium pacer Anshul Kamboj took out the overnight pair of Nathan McSweeney (35, 75b, 5×4) and skipper Peter Handscomb (16) in the opening hour to push the visitors on to the back-foot immediately.

Replacing Kamboj from the pavilion end, pacer Tushar Deshpande cleaned up Josh Philippe and Liam Scott off successive deliveries before off-spinner Tanush Kotian clean bowled Jason Sangha to leave the visitors struggling at 185/7 at lunch.

Earlier, on Thursday, skipper Devdutt Padikkal struck a fifty and first-innings centurion Kumar Kushagra remained unbeaten on 46 as India A set Australia A an improbable target of 363.

Opener Sai Sudharsan (39, 85b, 3×4), who scored a fifty in the first innings, and fellow-southpaw Padikkal (59, 88b, 7×4) put on 68 for the second wicket as India A built on a solid first-innings lead of 163.

Sudharsan fell lbw attempting to sweep Todd Murphy just before lunch, the first of four victims for the impressive bespectacled off-spinner, who took three wickets in the first innings.

In-form Padikkal, who recorded his fourth 50-plus score in as many first-class matches, reached his fifty with successive fours off pacer Liam Scott.

The skipper was the fifth wicket to fall, lbw to Scott, as the hosts collapsed, losing their last six wickets for 48 runs.

Kumar Kushagra was declared Player of the Match. The second four-day match will be played here between Sept 29 and Oct 2, followed by three One-Dayers.

Brief scores: India A 334 & 199 beat Australia A 171 & 200 all out in 55.1 overs (Fergus O’Neill 47; Tushar Deshpande 3-14, Shams Mulani 3-57, Tanush Kotian 2-57) by 162 runs.