On a second day at the MCG where Australia A dominated, wickets continued to fall, with Marcus Harris improving his hopes of a Test return with a tough 74, Prasidh Krishna continuing his outstanding trip with four wickets, and KL Rahul failing once again.
Despite Prasidh collecting 4 for 50 and Mukesh Kumar taking 3 for 41 in strong periods, Harris kept Australia A’s innings together through two rain delays until key contributions from Jimmy Peirson, Nathan McAndrew, and Corey Rocchiccioli enabled them record a critical 62-run first innings lead.
In the absence of Michael Neser, who flew home to recover from a strained left hamstring, India A subsequently lost five wickets for 73, cutting their advantage to just 11 at stumps. McAndrew and Beau Webster were the ones who caused the damage. Rahul managed to survive against the quicks, but Rocchiccioli bowled him off his inner thigh after he attempted to pad away a ball that was coming down leg. He was out for a weird only ten.
As the day wore on, Harris’ innings grew increasingly spectacular. despite hitting 143 and 52 in the opening Sheffield Shield match of the summer, the 32-year-old has been probably the front-runner for Australia’s open Test opener berth, but he hasn’t been able to establish himself despite making four consecutive starts.
However, Harris’s patient 74 demonstrated to Australia’s selectors why he is still a highly regarded player, giving Australia A a crucial first innings lead on a challenging MCG wicket, where only one other player in the game has reached 35 so far. His previous Test half-century in December 2021, when he scored a game-winning 76 in a match when another player reached 38 and Scott Boland took 6 for 7, was reminiscent of this innings.
Harris, who started the day undefeated on 26, witnessed Sam Konstas, Ollie Davies, and Webster all fall cheaply from the non-striker’s end after witnessing fellow Test candidate Nathan McSweeney and Cameron Bancroft fall cheaply on the first night.
The left-armer From around the wicket, Khaleel Ahmed nailed Konstas plumb lbw. By holing out to midwicket and attempting to heave Krishna over wide on from a good length, Davies gave up his wicket to Krishna after coming and going for a quick 13.
Australia A was in serious danger at 84 for 5 as Webster nicked Mukesh to the second slip. But Harris and Peirson remained determined.
Harris was small and controlled, playing nicely beneath his eyeline. After hitting four on the first night, he only managed one boundary on the second day without attempting to overhit the ball.
Indeed, he was quite fortunate. He survived a strong appeal from Tanush Kotian after nicking one on the opening evening that fell short of wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel. Harris closed the face in an attempt to move it leg side after the offspinner, bowling from around the wicket, pitched one outside leg. When the India A players gathered around him, confused by the ruling, Harris indicated that the umpire thought it had just bounced off the pad.
Shortly after hitting 50, he started to score because Nitish Kumar Reddy’s lengths and lines weren’t quite as economical as those of the other three quicks.
With a stunning reverse sweep against the offspinner and five boundaries in his thirty, Peirson too played with enthusiasm. However, Krishna came back to end the collaboration and carry on with his outstanding tour. When Peirson attempted to retrieve a back of a length ball from outside off, the wicketkeeper caught him behind off the bottom edge.
Harris sparred with one shortly after, pushing far from his body to edge behind him. His critics may point out that it was just another instance of his tendency to start games without scoring many runs, but considering how challenging his batting has been, the selectors would surely consider this 74 to be deserving of a three-figure total.
With a lead of just six runs and no Neser eligible to bat due to a hamstring injury sustained on the first day, Australia A was eight runs down when Boland nicked the following ball to slip as Krishna was on a hat-trick.
Even though the surface still had plenty of room for seamers, India A’s second innings got off to a strong start against the new ball. Before Abhimanyu Easwaran cut a catch to the gully off McAndrew, they had reached 25 without losing. India A collapsed as a result, losing 5 for 31.
Webster was sent to second slip by Sai Sudharsan, and Bancroft made a superb low grab. Before missing a ball from McAndrew that sneaked in and thundered into his pad, Ruturaj Gaikwad appeared to be in fine form. He was given lbw by the umpire. Gaikwad may have halted before leaving, wondering about the height, but the line was not a problem.
Rahul was solely responsible for his own actions. An off-break that went down leg was Rocchiccioli’s first ball of the day. Rahul decided not to play a shot because of the short leg that was in situ. He attempted to kick it away, but his pads were not together. It bounced onto the stumps after slipping through the little opening in his thighs. Rahul was assigned to play in this match before he would be called up to replace Rohit Sharma in the first Test in Perth, but his 4 and 10 for the match were not what India’s selectors would have hoped for.
When he nicked the all-rounder to first slip, Webster scored another run in the shadows, ending Devdutt Padikkal’s 19-ball stand with only one run.
After he and Reddy saw India A to tatters, it was up to Jurel once again to keep the innings together.
Read More: Harris ‘pretty well-equipped’ to open against India in Perth
