The Indians and Australia 'A' played out a dull draw on the final day of the three-day match at Hobart on Sunday.

Set 308 to win, the visitors made no effort to reach the target and ended the match at 66 for the loss of two wickets.

Australia 'A' batsman Michael Clarke played a brilliant innings to put forward his claims for a place in the Test side and enlivened the proceedings with an exciting unbeaten 131 off just 140 balls.

Morning session

The overcast conditions helped the Indians keep a check on the scoring rate initially and so did two early wickets.

Resuming at the overnight score of 57 for the loss of three wickets, Australia 'A' were reduced to 112 for 5 by the two left-arm pacemen, Irfan Pathan and Ashish Nehra.

Brad Hodge (33) added 69 runs with Clarke, but was dismissed while trying to pull a delivery from young paceman Pathan. The three-day old pitch showed it's unpredictable nature as the ball kept low and the right-hand batsmen played on to his stumps. (97 for 4).

The pitch claimed another victim when Cameron White (5) pulled a ball, which stopped off the pitch, straight to Deep Dasgupta, who took a good catch at square leg (112 for 5).

Nehra was evidently putting in a lot of effort after a lackluster spell in the first innings and that saw his first wicket of the innings. The rhythm in his action and run-up indicated that he would be a different proposition in the third Test. He could have a third wicket had Murali Kartik at point held on to a full-blooded square cut by Clarke. The young Aussie was on 45.

Clarke made the most of the reprieve and proceeded to take the Indian bowlers to task. His footwork was quick and his shot selection immaculate, bringing back memories of Michael Slater with his non-nonsense approach.

Well-placed lofted drives and pulls were the hallmark of his innings. Meanwhile, wicket-keeper Wade Seccombe, who had come in at the fall of White's wicket, had raced to 25 off 34 balls.

At lunch, Australia 'A' were 147 for 5, with Clarke on 58 and Seccombe on 25*.

Post-Lunch session

After the break, Clarke continued to chance his arm and scored more than half the Australia 'A' total.

Clarke scored 131 off just 140 balls including 12 hits to the fence and four sixes. He reached his century with a six over square leg off Kartik.

Kartik suffered the most at the hands of Clarke. The young Aussie was always eager to get to the pitch of the ball and made the most of anything pitched right up or short of length.

The Aussies declared on 241, setting the Indians a target of 308 with a minimum off 41 overs left in the day's play.

Lakshmipathy Balaji came up with a much better performance in the second innings to become the chief wicket-taker, claiming 3 for 87.

The Indians scored only 66 for 2 in their second innings off 33 overs. Sadagoppan Ramesh (22 off 29 balls) started the innings brightly enough, but Akash Chopra (25 off 98 balls) took well over an hour to get off the mark. He raised his bat to the crowd, who got into the act, when he did eventually manage to score two runs to open his account.

The openers were the only wickets to fall during the Indian innings and play was called off eight overs early. Deep Dasgupta, 19, and Parthiv Patel, 0, were at the crease.

Paul Rofe and Damien Wright shared the wickets for Australia 'A'.

Most of the Indian Test batsmen, with the exception of Sourav Ganguly, spent good time in the middle but they did not really force the pace.

The third Test begins at Melbourne on December 26.

Scoreboard:

Australia A first innings: 311 for five declared (Martin Love 94)

India first innings: 245 (Parthiv Patel 49; Matthew Nicholson 4-25)

Australia A second innings:
C.Rogers c Chopra b Balaji            2
M.Hussey c Tendulkar b Pathan      7
M.Love b Balaji                            11
B.Hodge b Pathan                         33
M.Clarke not out                         131
C.White c Dasgupta b Nehra           5
W.Seccombe c Sehwag b Kartik   27
M.Nicholson c Patel b Balaji            7
D.Wright not out                            10

Extras: (lb-1 b-11 nb-6) 8

Total: (for seven wickets dec., 65 overs) 241

Fall of wickets: 1-5 2-9 3-28 4-97 5-112 6-150 7-195.

Bowling: Pathan 14-1-40-2, Balaji 22-2-87-3 (nb-6), Kartik 12-3-53-1, Nehra 15-0-49-1, Tendulkar 2-0-10-0.

India second innings:
A.Chopra c Seccombe b Rofe     25
S.Ramesh c Hussey b Wright       22
D.Dasgupta not out                      19
P.Patel not out                               0

Extras: 0

Total: (for two wickets, 33 overs) 66

Fall of wickets: 1-22, 2-66.

Bowling: Nicholson 8-5-19-0, Wright 8-4-17-1, Tait 5-1-22-0, Rofe 8-4-5-1, White 4-2-3-0.

Result: match drawn.