Team India started its tour Down Under in fine fashion by bundling Cricket Australia Invitational XI for a mere 219 on the opening day of the two-day practice match. In reply, Indians made 55 runs and lost the wicket of opener Shikhar Dhawan at Gliderol Stadium, Adelaide.
Speedster Varun Aaron was instrumental in demolishing the home team in the second session and finished with three wickets, while Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammad Shami, Karn Sharma took two wickets each and Ravichandran Ashwin chipped in with one.
Aaron, in particular, used pace and bounce in his favour and troubled the CAXI batsmen consistently. In the opening spell, Aaron scalped Ashton Turner (29) and Nick Stevens (0) – they both fell in the same over – and later took the wicket of Alex Gregory (3).
The Jharkhand-pacer, who is playing after a quad injury, was supported by Bhuvneshwar and Shami. Bhuvneshwar drew the first blood when he dismissed Matthew Short for a duck and also got the wicket of dangerous-looking Kelvin Smith.
Leg-spinner Karn was impressive and bowled with tight line and length and got the wickets of David Moody (0) and Harry Conway (7). He also broke a 52-run stand for the final wicket between Conway and Harry Nielsen, which took the hosts to a decent total.
The Indian bowlers never allowed the home team to make any partnerships and picked wickets on regular intervals. Nielson’s unbeaten 40-ball 43 and Smith’s 40 were the standout innings for the hosts, against a full strength Indian team.
India made a cautions start with Murali Vijay and Dhawan (10) and they put on 23 runs on the board. Dhawan, however, failed to see the stumps and was caught by Turner off Josh Lalor.
Cheteshwar Pujara and Vijay ensured that India finish the remaining overs without any more jolts and remained unbeaten till the end of day’s play. Vijay played positively and an unbeaten 50-ball 32, while Pujara finished the day on 26-ball 13.
