Australia A 275 (Konstas 67, Philippe 58, Arshad 3-56, `Thakur 2-46) beat India A 206 (Patidar 67, Johnson 3-35, Meredith 2-31) by 69 runs
Johnson claimed three wickets in Australia A’s successful defence and found able support from Ben Dwarshuis and Riley Meredith. Johnson especially dominated the early exchanges, having Devdutt Padikkal upper cutting a short ball to deep third in the fifth over.
In the next over, he tore across to his right from deep third and held onto a spectacular grab in the outfield to send back Ruturaj Gaikwad, who captains him at Chennai Super Kings in the IPL. Meredith got extra bounce to mess with Gaikwad’s cut shot and silenced the Puducherry crowd that had just celebrated a triptych of fours from Gaikwad.
Kumar Kushagra, who got a game in place of Prabhsimran Singh, made 17 before part-time legspinner Nikhil Chaudhary hid a legbreak away from his reach and had him weakly carving a catch to long-off. Fifty-nine for 4 then became 110 for 5 when legspinner Tanveer Sangha, who was yanked from the bench, had Nishant Sindhu holing out for 13 off 33 balls.
The clatter of wickets resulted in a passage where India A went almost 13 overs without scoring a boundary. Patidar broke the drought when he swivel-pulled Johnson for four in the 19th over. Soon after, he firmly punched Meredith for four and went on to bring up back-to-back fifties. Johnson then stopped his innings on 67 and hastened the end for India A. The hosts were eventually bowled out for 206 with almost five overs unused in their innings.
The pair combined for a 101-run stand for the second wicket off 116 balls after Yash Thakur had cut Mitch Owen’s innings short on 25 off 13 balls. While Konstas was watchful in the powerplay, he manufactured scoring opportunities thereafter by stepping outside leg or stepping out of his crease with purpose. He moved to his second fifty-plus score in List A cricket and first on this India trip in six attempts. When he was looking good for even more, though, Arshad Khan bounced him out for 67 off 88 balls.
Philippe had also looked largely comfortable against spin and took a special liking to Sindhu’s left-arm orthodox. He took him for 23 off 11 balls before Sindhu had him caught at midwicket. From 207 for 3, Australia folded for 275, but the bowlers regrouped to instigate an Indian collapse and secure the series.