India Test captain falls for just 16 as Australia 'A' skittle out home team for 135
Only on Tuesday did Australia 'A' left-arm spinner Ashton Agar speak about how excited he and his team were at the prospect of playing against Virat Kohli and getting him out.
On Wednesday, Agar walked the talk and dismissed the India Test captain for 16. Kohli's desire of getting the much-wanted match-practice after a month-long break ahead of the Sri Lanka tour starting next week did not last long. His form reflected on the entire India 'A' showing as the hosts were bundled out for 135 on the opening day of the second 'Test' at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. The visitors reached 43 without loss at stumps, still 92 runs adrift.
Winning the toss and batting first, India 'A' did not show the desired qualities needed on a pitch that was hard early on before the spinners came into the picture. Only Karnataka's Karun Nair, the batsman who scored a triple century in the Ranji Trophy final earlier this year, made a notable contribution with 50 batting at No. 4.
The spoils were shared between the Australian speedsters and spinners with paceman Gurinder Singh Sandhu (3/25) showing the best figures whereas left-arm spin twins Steve O'Keefe (2/30) and Agar (2/23) dented the top-order with telling blows including that of Kohli.
A lot was dependent on Kohli, who had a prolific run in India's tour of Australia but who disappointed in the lone innings that India played in the rain-affected Fatullah Test in mid-June by scoring only 1. Entering the crease on Wednesday at the fall of captain Cheteshwar Pujara's wicket in the 11th over for 11, Kohli took time to get a look in. He was cautious, the scoreboard did not move at a steady pace as the batsmen were coming to terms to the hard surface early on.
The prospect of getting Kohli's wicket fired up the already-charged up Aussie bowlers as they focused on bowling straight. Agar caught Kohli in two minds with an arm ball as the 26-year-old Delhiite neither lunged forward nor went on the back foot to be struck plumb in front of the wickets.
Agar said it was very satisfying to have dismissed Kohli cheaply. "I look up to him as a batsman. He's one of my favourite players to watch bat. To get an opportunity to bowl to him was great and to get him out, I was very pleased with that."
It was a frustrating stay at the wicket for Kohli even though he hit the other left-arm spinner O'Keefe for a straight six and got a boundary off Agar.
Nair made amends for the failure in the first match but had little support from the other end. Once Nair was out in the post-tea session caught by Joe Burns off pacer Andrew Fekete, the last five wickets fell for 26 runs in 11.5 overs with Sandhu wrapping up the tail.
Sandhu said that the scoreboard pressure helped the Australians. "It was nice to finish off well. We were slow before lunch. after lunch they were not scoring. We were not getting wickets either. So we knew if we could keep the scoreboard still, pick up a few wickets, that's the time to roll on and get the rest of the batters," said Sandhu.
He added that the pitch was "a bit faster" than the first game played at the same venue last week. "To start off, it was hard. So there was a bit more carry than in the last game. we were bowling straight, stump to stump, learnt from the last game and made it tough for the opposition. There were no bad balls to put away."
(With PTI inputs)
Scoreboard:
India A (1st innings): A Mukund c Wade b O'Keefe 15, C Pujara b Stoinis 11, V Kohli lbw b Agar 16, K Nair c Burns b Fekete 50, S Iyer b O'Keefe 1, N Ojha st Wade b Agar 10, B Aparajith hit wicket b Sandhu 12, S Gopal not out 5, V Aaron lbw b Sandhu 0, S Thakur c Ferguson b Fekete 4,P Ojha b Sandhu 0
Extras (B1, LB2, W4, NB4) 11
Total (all out, 68.5 overs) 135
Fall of wickets: 1-18 (Pujara), 2-44 (Mukund), 3-52 (Kohli), 4-53 (Iyer), 5-109 (N Ojha), 6-114 (Nair), 7-125 (Aparajith), 8-125 (Aaron), 9-130 (Thakur)
Bowling: G Sandhu 15.5-4-25-3, A Fekete 14-1-33-2, S O'Keefe 17-5-30-2, M Stoinis 10-3-21-1, A Agar 12-3-23-2
Australia 'A' (1st innings): C Bancroft batting 24, U Khawaja batting 13
Extras (B1, W1, NB4) 6
Total (for no loss, 13 overs) 43
Bowling: S Thakur 3-1-11-0, V Aaron 5-2-13-0, P Ojha 4-0-17-0, B Aparajith 1-0-1-0
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