Steve Smith, Shaun Marsh hit tons to put India 'A' attack to the sword

India A bowlers were largelyineffective allowing Steve Smith and senior batsman ShaunMarsh to strike comfortable hundreds as Australia startedtheir Test tour in impressive fashion in the threeday warmup in MumbaitodayRiding on the two batsmens centuries before both were retired out Australia made 327 for five wickets by stumps onday one of the match against a largely unimpressive India Aattack at the Brabourne StadiumAt close Mitchell Marsh 16 and Matthew Wade 7 were the unbeaten batsmenSmith and Marsh came together after the visitors had lost openers David Warner 25 and Matt Renshaw 11 when the scorewas 55 for two They were largely untroubled by the hometeams attack before both retired to the pavilion afternotching up hundreds and putting on 156 runs for the thirdwicketMedium pacer Navdeep Saini dismissed Warner and Renshaw in his sixover first spell by coming on as firstchangebefore lunch and then finished with 2 for 27 at the end of theday Captain Hardik Pandya picked up the wicket of PeterHandscomb late in the day with the second new ballSmith who is expected to be a big thorn in the Indian bowlers flesh in the fourTest series commencing at Pune onFebruary 23 played fluently against both pace and spinThe righthanded batsman made 107 his 30th hundred thatincludes 15 in Test cricket in his 100th firstclass game in161 balls before he decided not to resume his innings aftertea when Australia were 211 for 2Smith played a chanceless knock and impressed with theway he dealt with leftarm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem He alsosmacked him over long on for a six by dancing down the pitchbesides timing the ball superbly to hit 12 fours tooThe lefthanded Marsh preferred over Usman Khawaja repaid the faith by making an assured 104 in 173 balls and in213 minutesHe too retired after reaching his century after tea toleave Peter Handscomb 45 and his brother Mitchell Marsh 16to carry on when the total read 288 for two in 75 oversShaun who struck 10 fours and one six could have been out on 88 when he pulled parttime spinner Akhil Herwadkar but was put down by Saini at short midwicketThe home teams bowling suffered a setback when offspinner Krishnappa Gowtham hurt his hamstring whilefielding after lunch and limped off the fieldSaini who took 2 for 13 in his prelunch spell of six overs too limped off after bowling four balls in the firstover after lunch but returned to the field and also bowled acouple of overs late in the dayWarner and Renshaw were both dismissed by first change home team medium pacer Saini before the visitors recovered poise through the 156run stand between righthanded Smith and lefthanded Marsh in 405 oversSmith who arrived at the crease at the fall of his deputy Warner in the 9th over of the innings batted fluently and was hardly troubled by the bowling barring once when he edged leftarm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem short of the slip fielder when on 55He otherwise played the slow bowler with lot of confidence by using his feet well and also smacked him for an ondriven six soon after lunch He completed his century in 154 balls with the help of 11 fours and a six in 186 minutesMarsh too took cue from his captain and began to play with increasing confidence to complete his half century in 86 balls and 131 minutesThe thirdwicket duo completed the century stand in 411 overs and in 140 minutes and looked well in control against a nonetooimpressive bowling attack on a pitch that had eased out considerably in the afternoon session Earlier Australia lost both the lefthanded openers vicecaptain Warner and the tall Englandborn Renshaw in the prelunch session after they were put in to bat by India A captain Hardik PandyaFor the home team Delhis Saini was the most impressive bowler in a fine first spell of 62132 while the other two medium pacers captain Pandya and Ashok Dinda could not extract as much help from the greentinged pitch offering good bounceShahbaz was given a long spell by skipper Pandya without making much of an impression after bowling 17 overs in which he gave away 71 runs without any wicket to his nameAustralia began cautiously in the morning period Both the openers edged the bowlers on one occasion each through the slip cordon but Warner as is his wont also dispatched the loose balls to the fenceDinda gave way to Saini after a fourover first spell and the Delhi medium pacer struck a blow in his very first over by packing off pocket dynamo Warner with a short ball that the lefthander tried to pull and got a topedge to be caught behind by Ishan KishanWarners 25 came off 43 balls and he hit the ball to the fence on four occasions in his 40minute essayAfter the first drinks break Smith started driving the ball fluently on the up and looked in no trouble against the medium pacers and drove them for welltimed fours mainly in the VBut Saini struck again in the fifth over after the drinks break by dismissing the stonewalling Renshaw with a ball that moved away a shade as the batsman poked at it and took the bats edge for Kishan to grab the second catch of the morning Renshaw had occupied the crease for 84 minutes and struck a lone four in his 41ball knock and at his dismissal the visitors were 55 for twoSmith and Marsh who was not able to time the ball as well as his captain initially took the visitors to lunch without any further loss