PUDUCHERRY, SEP 25 (IANS): Left-arm spinner Shams Mulani took three wickets in the second innings to return a match-haul of seven for 124 as India A recorded a thumping 162-run win over Australia A about half an hour after lunch on the concluding day of the first four-day fixture at the CAP-Siechem Stadium here on Friday.
Resuming their second innings at 55/2, and requiring another 308 for victory, Australia A were bowled out for 200, with Mulani scalping three at the end, including top-scorer Fergus O’Neill (47, 52b, 6×4, 1×6) caught at deep mid wicket.
Medium pacer Anshul Kamboj took out the overnight pair of Nathan McSweeney (35, 75b, 5×4) and skipper Peter Handscomb (16) in the opening hour to push the visitors on to the back-foot immediately.
Replacing Kamboj from the pavilion end, pacer Tushar Deshpande cleaned up Josh Philippe and Liam Scott off successive deliveries before off-spinner Tanush Kotian clean bowled Jason Sangha to leave the visitors struggling at 185/7 at lunch.
Earlier, on Thursday, skipper Devdutt Padikkal struck a fifty and first-innings centurion Kumar Kushagra remained unbeaten on 46 as India A set Australia A an improbable target of 363.
Opener Sai Sudharsan (39, 85b, 3×4), who scored a fifty in the first innings, and fellow-southpaw Padikkal (59, 88b, 7×4) put on 68 for the second wicket as India A built on a solid first-innings lead of 163.
Sudharsan fell lbw attempting to sweep Todd Murphy just before lunch, the first of four victims for the impressive bespectacled off-spinner, who took three wickets in the first innings.
In-form Padikkal, who recorded his fourth 50-plus score in as many first-class matches, reached his fifty with successive fours off pacer Liam Scott.
Kumar Kushagra was declared Player of the Match.
Brief scores: India A 334 & 199 beat Australia A 171 & 200 all out in 55.1 overs (Fergus O’Neill 47; Tushar Deshpande 3-14, Shams Mulani 3-57, Tanush Kotian 2-57) by 162 runs.
