Pandey wages lone battle vs Aus A

Brisbane, September 8

Manish Pandey blasted a quick-fire 76-ball 77 before Mitchell Swepson struck with a four-wicket haul to dismiss India A for 230 in their first innings against Australia A in the opening four-day day-night Test here today.

Middle-order batsman Pandey cracked 13 boundaries and one six to take the visitors close to the 200-run mark. But once he was dismissed by Chadd Sayers, the rest of the batsmen could add just 42 runs more to the total. At the draw of stumps, Cameron Bancroft (10) and Joe Burns (12) were at the crease with Australia A at 24 for no loss.

Earlier, skipper Naman Ojha won the toss and elected to bat. Openers Akhil Herwadkar (34) and Faiz Fazal (48) amassed 74 runs in 32.1 overs before the former was caught by Peter Handscomb off Daniel Worrall. Five overs later, Fazal was cleaned up by David Moody. Shreyas Iyer (19) and Pandey then helped India cross the 100-run mark but the 21-year-old Mumbaikar couldn’t last long — he was caught and bowled by Swepson.

Pandey and Karun Nair (15) then stitched together a vital 70-run partnership. The stand put the Indian innings back on track but the dismissal of Pandey triggered a massive collapse. Nair fell soon after, caught by Handscomb off Swepson; Ojha (2) was trapped leg before by Sayers. And then Swepson and Moody picked up two wickets each in quick time to wrap up the Indian innings in 81.3 overs.

Brief score: India A 1st Innings: 230 all out in 81.3 overs (M Pandey 77; M Swepson 4/78); Australia A 1st innings: 25-0. — PTI