Yash Rathod and Tushar Deshpande scored dogged half centuries while Player of the Series Shams Mulani batted 131 balls at No.9 as India A salvaged a thrilling draw in the second of the two unofficial Tests against Australia A. Set a daunting fourth-innings target of 365, the hosts survived a five-fer from Liam Scott and eked home to a draw with just one wicket remaining. For the record, they weren’t too far from pulling off an improbable win either, eventually finishing just 55 runs short of the target. They clinched the series courtesy of the 162-run victory in the first game.
The final day of this four-day contest in Puducherry swung wildly. The visitors had been pushing for the win from the get-go and India A had their task cut out, given their batting had imploded to a 167 all-out. The pitch, which offered the occasional low bounce, had progressively deteriorated although it had also become a tad slower, allowing batters little more time to read deliveries off the wicket.
The hosts’ resistance had on the final day began from an unlikely source. Tushar Deshpande scored 52 batting as the nighthawk at No.3. More importantly, he played out 119 balls, taking out valuable time from the game. He put on a useful partnership with captain Devdutt Padikkal, who made only 26 before falling to a superb catch from Josh Philippe standing up to the stumps for medium-pacer Liam Scott. Deshpande was solid with his defence through his 180 minutes in the middle and therefore was left distraught when a delivery from Liam Hatcher held up on the surface, drawing him into an early shot to offer a simple catch to long-off.
Shaik Rasheed walked out with a counter-attacking mindset, hitting eight boundaries in his 45-ball 38, briefly raising hopes of a win. But he played back to a full ball from Nathan McSweeney and was trapped in front of the stumps. The hosts then lost star batter Kumar Kushagra when a ball from Scott shot at ankle height and dislodged the stumps. When Tanush Kotian fell to Corey Rocchiccioli, the writing appeared to be on the wall. India A were seven down for 199 with another session of play to go.
It was then that the pair of Rathod and Mulani got together. While the latter defended resolutely, Rathod kept picking the runs on offer to ensure one result wasn’t completely ruled out of the contest, as outlandish as it might have been. Peter Handscomb rotated his bowlers around and the spinners got through their overs quickly enough to give him more than enough time to take those remaining wickets. As it turned out, Rathod and Mulani weren’t easily dislodged. They batted 216 balls for their 85-run stand.
But just when it looked like they would bat the team to safety, Scott conjured another twist. Rathod fell LBW for 80. Scott also managed to beat Mulani’s defence two overs later to put the visitors one wicket away from win. India A had to summon out their substitute No.11, Praful Hinge, who came out to bat because Anshul Kamboj was called up to join the senior team in Chandigarh. Hinge batted out six crucial balls while Nachiket Bhute, who began this game three days ago with a fine opening spell, saw off 21 deliveries before the teams shook hands for a draw under the fading Puducherry sun.
Brief scores: Australia A 358 & 173/4 decl. drew with India A 167 & 310/9 (Yash Rathod 80, Tushar Deshpande 52; Liam Scott 5-37)
