Kushagra’s 113, Mulani’s 4-67 put India ‘A’ in control vs Australia ‘A’

Shams Mulani

Kumar Kushagra made a composed 113 and spinner Shams Mulani plucked four wickets as India A took a decisive 163-run lead over Australia A on the second day of the four-day match here on Wednesday.

Kushagra's seventh first-class century (240b, 13x4) helped India A post a respectable 334 in their first innings after resuming the day from 257 for five.

Left-arm spinner Mulani (4/67) took over from Kushagra to run through Aussies' middle and lower order, bowling them out for 171.

However, the earlier part of the day belonged to Kushagra, who had to retire hurt on 82 on the first day. The Jharkhand batter returned to the field in the initial moments of the day after Tanush Kotian (69) fell early to pacer Brendan Doggett.

The 21-year-old soon reached the personal landmark with a single off spinner Corey Rocchiccioli (4/95) in 202 balls. However, Rocchiccioli had his revenge in the end when the spinner managed to sneak the ball past Kushagra's attempt to play the cut from the back foot.

But by then India had amassed plenty of runs to play with. Initially, the pacers Tushar Deshpande, Anshul Kamboj and Praful Hinge rocked the Aussies top order, taking three quick wickets of Sam Konstas, Campbell Kellaway and Nathan McSweeney.

The tourists were 37 for three then, and the position soon worsened to 85 for five. Unlike the Indian innings earlier, there was no rearguard action as they kept on losing wickets.

Jason Sangha (46) tried his best to keep the Australian innings together, but Kotian snaffled a wonderful catch near gully off Mulani to end a promising innings.

Liam Scott pummelled two fours and a six off Kotian in successive balls but he was no match for Mulani's guile. Kotian brought an end to the Aussies innings, castling Doggett and the umpires also called off the proceedings with that.

Brief scores:
India A: 334 all out leads Australia A: 171 all out in 55.3 overs (Jason Sangha 46; Shams Mulani 4/67) by 163 runs.

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