The first match of the five match series between India 'A' and
Australia 'A' in the AXN America Challenge saw Australia drub India.
On winning the toss, Adam Gilchrist put India 'A' in to bat. Dodda
Ganesh and Ashish Nehra opened the bowling for India 'A'. Adam
Gilchrist and Campbell began cautiously and did not really take the
attack to the opposition. The pitch looked underprepared, and the
Australians had to be watchful. Both Ganesh and Nehra bowled tidily,
and with the pitch playing up, the Australians were 8 for no loss
after 5 overs. Campbell attempted to push the scoring rate ended up
skying the ball into the off-side. Harbhajan Singh at mid-off covered
good ground and took the catch safely. Campbell had made 8. Michael Di
Venuto was came in at the fall of Campbell's wicket. Di Venuto and
Gilchrist began to build a partnership. Harbhajan Singh came in to the
attck first change, began poorly and was punished by Gilchrist. Singh
however got revenge when Gilchrist edged a ball to Laxman at slip
who took a good catch, falling to his left. Gilchrist had made 19 off
42 balls.
The next man in was Damien Martyn. Di Venuto had spent some time out
in the middle and began to play a few strokes. After driving Nehra
well to get three runs, Di Venuto attempted to go after Harbhajan
Singh and payed the price. Di Venuto went after a ball that was well
tossed up. The ball turned sharply off the pitch and took the edge of
the bat. Rahul Sanghvi completed the catch and Australia 'A' were in a
spot of bother at 45 for 3.
Symonds joined Martyn out in the middle and the two handled the Indian
spinners well, milking them for runs. Both Symonds and Martyn played
sensibly and pushed the score to 87 after 25 overs. After the 30th
over, Symonds began to stroke the ball more freely, came down the
wicket and lofted Sanghvi over long-on for six. Martyn then attempted
to pull Sanghvi, missed the ball completely and was bowled around his
legs. Brad Hodge came in at the fall of Gilchrist's wicket and had to
be content playing second fiddle to Symonds. Symonds cut and pull in
fine style and began to notch up boundaries with regularity. The India
'A' captain Laxman, tried various bowlers including Shewaw to no
avail.
With only seven overs left to go in the curtailed 47 overs a side
match, Symonds attempted to hit Ganesh out of the ground and ended up
holing out to Devendra Bundela at long on. Symonds innings of 77 runs
off 84 balls included 3 boundaries and one huge six.
Shane Lee breezed in and out of the ground and did not trouble the
scorers in his essay of 0 off 1 ball. Lee hit a ball straight back to
Harbhajan and was gone. Hodge then took on the mantle of senior
batsman and made 30 off 40 balls before he skied a catch to Mohammad
Kaif off the bowling of Ganesh. Young and Creevey batted out the
remaining overs and helped Australia 'A' post a highly competitive 192
off their allotted 47 overs.
Brett Lee, reputed to be the fastest bowler in Australia today, came
out all guns firing on a wicket that aided the bowlers. Alongside him,
Hansen bowled tidily and the Indians could not score freely. Both
Sriram and Gandhi looked out of their depth and struggled to put bat
to ball. In the 10th over Gandhi was trapped plumb in front by Hansen
and his innings of 15 off 33 balls had come to an end. Laxman came i
next and played a flick through mid-wicket that had "Azharuddin"
written all over it. He followed that up with a cut that went to the
point boundary. Brett Lee continued to trouble Sriram. After a painful
blow on the stomach that rattled Sriram, Lee struck Sriram on the
pads. After thinking a bit, Yashpal Sharma decided that the ball would
go on to hit the leg-stump and gave the batsman out LBW.
Mohammad Kaif was the next man in. Kaif scored one boundary soon
after he came to the wicket but fell after that, in attempting to
glance Shane Lee. Gilchrist dived and snapped up the ball. There was
some doubt about whether the ball had come off the bat or off the
pads, but umpire Jayaprakash had no doubt in sending Kaif back to the
pavilion. India were in trouble at 58 for 3. Laxman followed soon
after, being bowled by with the score. At this point, the
Indians seemed to give up any realistic hope of winning the
match. Virendra Shewag and Devendra Bundela did their best to protect
their wickets. This negative approach did the Indians no good, and wickets
began to fall at regular intervals. The first to go was Shewag,
attempting to drive Shane Lee through the covers. Shewag ended up
presenting Symonds with a simple catch and India were in deeper
trouble at 79 for 5. The wicketkeeper Dighe and the Indian tail did
not offer any serious resistance and were knocked over without much
ado. Sanghvi was run out, while Creevey picked up the wickets of Dighe
and Ganesh. India 'A' managed to muster up only 115 as they were
bowled out for 34.1 overs. Australia 'A' won the match convincingly by
77 runs.
Symonds was deservedly adjudged man of the match, and a satisfied Adam
Gilchrist looked forward to the forthcoming matches.