India A vs Australia, Day 2, three-day warm-up match: Shreyas Iyer rescues hosts

Shreyas Iyer inches closer to his century while saving India A from a batting collapse against the Australian bowling attack.

By: Arun Rawal |
February 18, 2017 5:21 pm

Shreyas Iyer’s quickfire innings saved India A from a batting collapse on Day 2 of three-day warm-up game against Australia. After Australian skipper Steven Smith declared the innings on 469 for 5 in the second session only. As India A’s first innings started, Nathan Lyon drew first blood as he got the wicket of opener Akhil Herwadkar.

After initial caution, Priyank Panchal and Iyer started hitting boundaries in an attempt to put pressure on the bowlers. Panchal tried to take on Lyon which did not work out well for him as he was caught trying to take the aerial route for hitting boundaries.

Ankit Bawne came to bat after Panchal. He too got out after a while as Jackson Bird was brought back into the attack. Bird bowled 7 maiden overs throughout the day. He trapped Bawne in front of stumps. Bird broke the partnership again when Hardik Pandya was trying to accelerate. Pandya faced 2 maiden overs before he got out in Bird’s third over of his third spell.

Full recap from day two in Mumbai here: https://t.co/v493133xej #INDAvAUS pic.twitter.com/y2XeZGZ5yu

— cricket.com.au (@CricketAus) February 18, 2017

Meanwhile, Iyer was hitting fours and sixes off Nathan Lyon, Steve O’Keefe, it seemed like Iyer was batting on another pitch. Mitchell Marsh and O’Keefe remained wicketless whereas Lyon and Bird took two wickets each. Iyer scored runs with a strike close to 100.

Patient start from the India A openers with the hosts 0-10 in the ninth over in response to Australia’s 7-469d #INDAvAUS pic.twitter.com/L9LwkrAREC

— cricket.com.au (@CricketAus) February 18, 2017

Earlier, Mitchell Marsh and Mathew Wade hit half-centuries to take the score forward. The duo played a flurry of maiden overs early on in the first session as they gave respect to the movement off the pitch with the help of new ball. Wade got out soon after scoring his fifty whereas Marsh scored 75. Glenn Maxwell and Steve O’Keefe too got to bat but not for long as the skipper declared their first innings.

Brief Scores:

India A 176/4 (Shreyas Iyer 85, Priynak Panchal 36; Jackson Bird 2 for 15, Nathan Lyon 2 for 72) trail Australia 469 for 5 (Steven Smith 107, Shaun Marsh 104; Navdeep Amarjeet Saini 2 for 42, Akhil Herwadkar 1 for 64) by 293 runs.