A six-wicket haul from pacer Mukesh Kumar helped India A stay in the hunt during their first unofficial Test against Australia A at Mackay on Friday. Australia A started the day two at 99/4, with their captain Nathan Mcsweeney (29*) and Cooper Connolly (14*) unbeaten. Earlier, they had lost Border-Gavaskar Trophy opening spot contenders Sam Konstas (0), Cameron Bancroft (0), Marcus Harris (17) and Beau Webster (39), with Mukesh getting two of these scalps. Mukesh removed Connolly for 37, ending a 51-run partnership with McSweeney. Josh Philippe was also dismissed by Mukesh for four runs. Nitish Kumar Reddy got McSweeney for 39 in 131 balls, with four boundaries.
Australian batting could not put up much of a fight against Indian pace and they were bundled out for 195 runs.
Mukesh took six wickets for 46 runs in 18.4 overs. Prasidh Krishna took 3/59 in his 18 overs while Nitish got one wicket.
Australia A gained an 88 run lead over India A, who were bundled out for just 107 runs in their first innings. Devdutt Padikkal (36 in 77 balls, with two fours) and Sai Sudharsan (21 in 35 balls, with a boundary) and Navdeep Saini (23 in 42 balls, with two fours and a six) played some crucial knocks for India.
Brendan Doggett (6/15) was the pick of the bowlers for Australia A in 11 overs. Jordan Buckingham got two wickets while Todd Murphy and Fergus O’Neill got one wicket each.
India A is meanwhile playing their second innings and would be aiming to get a massive lead.