Ojha bags five as India 'A' take 154-run lead over Aus

Pragyan Ojha bagged an impressive five-wicket haul as India ‘A’ dismissed Australia ‘A’ for 268 before extending their lead to 154 runs by the end of the third day's play in the first unofficial cricket Test, at the M A Chidambaram stadium, in Chennai, on Friday.

At the close of play, the hosts were 121 for 3 in their second innings.

Back in the mix after 18 months, the 28-year-old left-arm spinner, bowling with a remodelled action, picked five wickets for 85 runs, while leg spinner Amit Mishra took three for 55.

There was a wicket, too, for medium pacer Abhimanyu Mithun.

Ojha's scalps on Friday included that of the well-set Marcus Stoinis and Gurinder Sandhu, while Mishra took the important wicket of Peter Handscomb, having the batsman stumped, and sent back Matthew Wade and Andrew Fekete.

In reply, India ‘A’ were well-served in their second essay by Abhinav Mukund (40) and skipper Cheteshwar Pujara (42) before they were out towards the fag end of the day's play.

Both the wickets were taken by fast medium bowler Sandhu (2-13), who plays for Delhi Daredevils in the Indian Premier League.

Opener Lokesh Rahul was out to Travis Head after scoring a 45-ball 29. His knock was studded with four boundaries and a six.

For Australia ‘A’, middle-order batsman Handscomb top-scored with a 182-ball 91-run knock, hitting seven boundaries.

Stoinis made 77 off 179 balls, and struck 10 fours and a six.

During their fifth-wicket partnership, Handscomb and Stoinis added 154 runs at just under three runs an over. It was the same pair that did the rebuilding job after Ojha’s three-wicket burst on Thursday.

However, there was no contribution from the other batsmen, as the visitors' innings folded up in 99.3 overs on the third afternoon.

Karun Nair (4) and Shreyas Iyer (4) were at the crease at stumps.

India ‘A’ had scored 301 all out in their first innings.

Scorecard

India A first innings: 301

Australia A first innings 268

India A second innings:

K L Rahul c Nicolas Maddinson b Travis Head 29

Abhinav Mukund c Cameroon Bancroft b Gurinder Sandhu 40

Cheteshwar Pujara c Peter Handscomb b Gurinder Sandhu 42

Karun Nair Batting 4

Shreyas Iyer batting 4

Extras: Lb-2 : 2

Total: (for 3 wkts in 46 overs): 121

Fall of wickets: 1/39, 2/110, 3/110,

Bowling: Gurinder Sandhu 11-5-13-2, Andrew Fekte 4—1—18-0, Stephen O’ Keefe 17—3—54-0, Travis Head 7-3—20-1, Sean Abbott 5-1-13-0, Marcus Stoinis 2-1-1-0.