Australia 'A' drub India 'A' to begin AXN America Challenge

The first match of the five match series between India 'A' and Australia 'A' in the AXN America Challenge saw Australia drub India.

On winning the toss, Adam Gilchrist put India 'A' in to bat. Dodda Ganesh and Ashish Nehra opened the bowling for India 'A'. Adam Gilchrist and Campbell began cautiously and did not really take the attack to the opposition. The pitch looked underprepared, and the Australians had to be watchful. Both Ganesh and Nehra bowled tidily, and with the pitch playing up, the Australians were 8 for no loss after 5 overs. Campbell attempted to push the scoring rate ended up skying the ball into the off-side. Harbhajan Singh at mid-off covered good ground and took the catch safely. Campbell had made 8. Michael Di Venuto was came in at the fall of Campbell's wicket. Di Venuto and Gilchrist began to build a partnership. Harbhajan Singh came in to the attck first change, began poorly and was punished by Gilchrist. Singh however got revenge when Gilchrist edged a ball to Laxman at slip who took a good catch, falling to his left. Gilchrist had made 19 off 42 balls.

The next man in was Damien Martyn. Di Venuto had spent some time out in the middle and began to play a few strokes. After driving Nehra well to get three runs, Di Venuto attempted to go after Harbhajan Singh and payed the price. Di Venuto went after a ball that was well tossed up. The ball turned sharply off the pitch and took the edge of the bat. Rahul Sanghvi completed the catch and Australia 'A' were in a spot of bother at 45 for 3.

Symonds joined Martyn out in the middle and the two handled the Indian spinners well, milking them for runs. Both Symonds and Martyn played sensibly and pushed the score to 87 after 25 overs. After the 30th over, Symonds began to stroke the ball more freely, came down the wicket and lofted Sanghvi over long-on for six. Martyn then attempted to pull Sanghvi, missed the ball completely and was bowled around his legs. Brad Hodge came in at the fall of Gilchrist's wicket and had to be content playing second fiddle to Symonds. Symonds cut and pull in fine style and began to notch up boundaries with regularity. The India 'A' captain Laxman, tried various bowlers including Shewaw to no avail.

With only seven overs left to go in the curtailed 47 overs a side match, Symonds attempted to hit Ganesh out of the ground and ended up holing out to Devendra Bundela at long on. Symonds innings of 77 runs off 84 balls included 3 boundaries and one huge six.

Shane Lee breezed in and out of the ground and did not trouble the scorers in his essay of 0 off 1 ball. Lee hit a ball straight back to Harbhajan and was gone. Hodge then took on the mantle of senior batsman and made 30 off 40 balls before he skied a catch to Mohammad Kaif off the bowling of Ganesh. Young and Creevey batted out the remaining overs and helped Australia 'A' post a highly competitive 192 off their allotted 47 overs.

Brett Lee, reputed to be the fastest bowler in Australia today, came out all guns firing on a wicket that aided the bowlers. Alongside him, Hansen bowled tidily and the Indians could not score freely. Both Sriram and Gandhi looked out of their depth and struggled to put bat to ball. In the 10th over Gandhi was trapped plumb in front by Hansen and his innings of 15 off 33 balls had come to an end. Laxman came i next and played a flick through mid-wicket that had "Azharuddin" written all over it. He followed that up with a cut that went to the point boundary. Brett Lee continued to trouble Sriram. After a painful blow on the stomach that rattled Sriram, Lee struck Sriram on the pads. After thinking a bit, Yashpal Sharma decided that the ball would go on to hit the leg-stump and gave the batsman out LBW.

Mohammad Kaif was the next man in. Kaif scored one boundary soon after he came to the wicket but fell after that, in attempting to glance Shane Lee. Gilchrist dived and snapped up the ball. There was some doubt about whether the ball had come off the bat or off the pads, but umpire Jayaprakash had no doubt in sending Kaif back to the pavilion. India were in trouble at 58 for 3. Laxman followed soon after, being bowled by with the score. At this point, the Indians seemed to give up any realistic hope of winning the match. Virendra Shewag and Devendra Bundela did their best to protect their wickets. This negative approach did the Indians no good, and wickets began to fall at regular intervals. The first to go was Shewag, attempting to drive Shane Lee through the covers. Shewag ended up presenting Symonds with a simple catch and India were in deeper trouble at 79 for 5. The wicketkeeper Dighe and the Indian tail did not offer any serious resistance and were knocked over without much ado. Sanghvi was run out, while Creevey picked up the wickets of Dighe and Ganesh. India 'A' managed to muster up only 115 as they were bowled out for 34.1 overs. Australia 'A' won the match convincingly by 77 runs.

Symonds was deservedly adjudged man of the match, and a satisfied Adam Gilchrist looked forward to the forthcoming matches.