A warm-up game with a serious tone and a decent turnout, witnessed India extend its winning run upon Australian shores. Against the Prime Minister’s XI at the Manuka Oval here on Sunday, Rohit Sharma’s men registered an easy victory. Pursuing the host’s 240, India finished with 257 for five as every ounce of batting practice was extracted.
During the chase, K.L. Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal stepped out as openers. Rahul was steady, Jaiswal was aggressive. The former drove with elan, the latter squirted a few edges over slips. While Scott Boland felt the heat of Rahul’s willow, Jack Nisbet found Jaiswal giving him the charge.
As night descended, Rahul preferred his runs down the turf while Jaiswal picked his spots square off the pitch. The pink ball was dealt with adequately before the latter holed out in the deep. India 75 for one and hope was gleaned from Shubman Gill returning to the crease after recovering from a left thumb injury.
With Rahul retiring on 27 and Rohit striding out, India had two batters wending their way back into the big picture ahead of next week’s Adelaide Test. Rohit seemed patient until he fell on a loose drive outside the off-stump. The Indian fans expected Virat Kohli, who like Jasprit Bumrah, skipped the game. Instead, Nitish Kumar walked towards the crease and instantly flourished.
Meanwhile, Gill looked at ease with a rasping pull for four off Hanno Jacobs. Spinner Lloyd Pope and seamer Aidan O’Connor were toyed with and then Gill retired after his 50. Nitish fell too but there were no alarms as Washington Sundar shepherded India towards the winning post with Ravindra Jadeja lending a hand till the cusp of a triumph.
Earlier in the afternoon, the skies were a deep blue even if the odd dark cloud threatened to replicate Saturday’s rains. Rohit won the toss, elected to field and though it was a 50-overs-per-side fixture, this was more of a distilled version of Test cricket as players turned out in whites, there were no fielding restrictions and a packed slip cordon was on view as Mohammed Siraj and Akash Deep steamed in.
Opener Sam Konstas, aged 19, was a lively presence while his senior partner Matt Renshaw and Jayden Goodwin edged and departed on either side of a brief rain break which reduced the contest to a 46-overs-per-side affair. Konstas drove, flicked and lived on the edge while scooping deliveries behind the wicket and past the ropes. He found an ally in southpaw Jack Clayton (40), and the two added 109 runs for the third wicket.
A six off Harshit Rana ushered Konstas towards his 50 but the seamer grabbed four wickets in a quick burst. The host slumped to 133 for six and Konstas and Jacobs (61), down the order, chipped in some runs. Konstas (107) got to his ton and retreated to the pavilion. Soon the stage was set for India’s chase under lights, a task that was handled reasonably well.Scoreboard
Prime Minister’s XI: Sam Konstas c Easwaran b Akash 107 (97b, 14×4, 1×6), Matt Renshaw c Padikkal b Siraj 5 (20b), Jayden Goodwin c Pant b Akash 4 (4b, 1×4), Jack Clayton b Harshit 40 (52b, 6×6), Oliver Davies b Harshit 0 (2b), Jack Edwards c Prasidh b Harshit 1 (6b), Sam Harper c Prasidh b Harshit 0 (2b), Aidan O’Connor c Nitish b Prasidh 4 (4b), Hanno Jacobs c Jadeja b Washington 61 (60b, 4×4, 2×6), Jack Nisbet c Washington b Jadeja 11 (16b), Charlie Anderson (not out) 0 (1b). Extras (b-1, lb-2, nb-4): 7
Total (all out in 43.2 overs): 240.
Fall of wickets: 1-12 (Renshaw, 4.5 overs), 2-22 (Goodwin, 5.5), 3-131 (Clayton, 22.4), 4-131 (Davies, 22.6), 5-133 (Edwards, 24.1), 6-133 (Harper, 24.3), 7-138 (O’Connor, 25.3), 8-205 (Konstas, 37.6), 9-236 (Nisbet, 42.5).
India bowling: Siraj 7-1-18-1, Akash 10-0-58-2, Harshit 6-0-44-0, Prasidh 6-0-37-1, Washington 6.2-0-38-1, Nitish 3-0-10-0, Jadeja 5-0-32-1.
India: Yashasvi Jaiswal c Clayton b Anderson 45 (59b, 9×4), K.L. Rahul (retired) 27 (44b, 4×4), Shubman Gill (retired) 50 (62b, 7×4), Rohit Sharma c Davies b Anderson 3 (11b), Nitish Kumar b Pope 42 (32b, 5×4, 1×6), Washington Sundar (not out) 42 (36b, 5×4), Ravindra Jadeja c & b Renshaw 27 (31b, 3×4), Sarfaraz Khan c Harper b Clayton 1 (4b), Devdutt Padikkal (not out) 4 (7b). Extras (b-4, lb-1, w-1, nb-9, w-1): 15
Total (for five wkts., in 46 overs): 257.
Fall of wickets: 1-75 (Jaiswal, 16.3), 2-90 (Rohit, 20.3), 3-182 (Nitish, 33.1), 4-219 (Jadeja, 40.6), 5-245 (Sarfaraz, 43.3).
Prime Minister’s XI bowling: Boland 10-2-36-0, Nisbet 6-1-32-0, Beardman 5-0-25-0, Anderson 6-1-30-2, Jacobs 4-0-27-0, Pope 6-0-47-1, O’Connor 4-0-31-0, Renshaw 3-0-13-1, Clayton 2-0-11-1.
Published – December 01, 2024 05:17 pm IST
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