Australia A batsmen Martin Love, Michael Hussey and Chris Rogers slammed half-centuries as the makeshift Indian attack was taken to the cleaners on the first day of a three-day tour game at Hobart, Tasmania, on Friday.
The Indians appeared to be taking it easy after the first two Tests, but the attitude in the field could certainly have been better. There were several misfields and the bowling was wayward.
At close of play, the Indians were 37 for the loss of one wicket. Akash Chopra (12) and Deep Dasgupta (18) were at the crease. Earlier, Australia A had declared their first innings closed on 311 for the loss of five wickets.
Australia A were led by Hussey while the Indians were captained by Sourav Ganguly, who decided late that he would play the match. Earlier, Virender Sehwag had been named to lead the side.
Rahul Dravid, V V S Laxman, Anil Kumble, and Ajit Agarkar were rested as the Indians looked to give their entire touring party a go. Regular wicket-keeper Parthiv Patel is playing as a batsman while Dasgupta is keeping wickets.
Fast bowlers Paul Rofe and Shaun Tait and leg-spinner Cameron White made their Australia A debuts. Tait is known to bowl regularly at 145 kph. He made his first-class debut only early this year.
Morning session
The grey skies at the start of the match meant that there was a lot of moisture in the air, and it was surprising to see Australia A win the toss and elect to bat first in conditions that were helpful for bowling.
But the Indian bowlers struggled to get their line right early on. They generally bowled too wide. Irfan Pathan and Lakshmipathy Balaji opened the bowling even though Ashish Nehra was in the side.
There was a lot of sideways movement early on, but the Indians erred in line and length. After 10 overs, the Australia A openers had put on 30 runs, but, more importantly, no wickets were lost.
A six from Hussey off Nehra signalled that the Australia A batsmen were starting to feel confident. Chris Rogers got to his half-century off just 58 balls with eight fours, several of them through point and cover. The scoreboard ticked over at a fair clip. At the end of the 20th over, Australia A were 89 without loss.
Ganguly proved to be the best Indian bowler in the morning session. He got the ball to move both ways, off the seam and in the air. He even induced a false shot from Rogers, but Sadagopan Ramesh, stationed at gully, spilled the chance.
Surprisingly, Tendulkar got a bowl ahead of Murali Kartik. Bowling medium pace, he conceded nine runs in his first over.
At lunch, Australia A were 114 for no loss, with Rogers on 66 and Hussey on 35.
Post-lunch session
Ganguly struck almost immediately after lunch. In the second over after the break, the skipper pitched one just in line with the off-stump and got it to move towards the slips. Rogers, who had played a streaky innings, tried to drive, but only succeeded in edging the ball to the wicket-keeper, who accepted the simple chance gleefully (119/1).
Martin Love, who is touted as one of Australia's finest batting prospects and a likely successor to Mark Waugh, was in next and one could see why he is rated so highly. Very rarely did he look flustered by anything. His footwork was either front or back; nothing in between.
Kartik was eventually introduced into the attack in the 38th over and he looked rusty at first. But after a few overs, he settled down nicely.
The ease with which the Australia A batsmen rotated the strike indicated the ineffectiveness of the Indian bowlers. Hussey got to his 50 off 119 balls (5x4, 1x6) and took fresh guard, an indication that he was in for the long haul. But a mistimed pull off Nehra, who bowled only five overs in the morning session, proved to be his undoing. The bat turned in his hands even as he played the shot and Ganguly ran back from mid-off to take a good catch. Hussey made 67 (204/2).
Love, at the other end, continued to look a class apart. He seemed to have a lot of time to play his shots and his shot selection was impeccable. A flick with a gentle turn of the wrists off Balaji was arguably the shot of the afternoon.
Victorian Brad Hodge, who hit a record 264 in the first tour match against the Indians, was in next, but never got going. He was clean bowled by Nehra off the last ball of the session for just one run (207/3).
One of the interesting sidelights of the game was the contest between Pathan and Nehra. Ajit Agarkar and Zaheer Khan will be the two sure picks for the remaining Tests, but the third seamer's slot is still up for grabs. Pathan looked the better bowler for the early part of the day, but Nehra struck back with two wickets in the post-lunch session.
As a result, Australia A went into tea at 207 for the loss of three wickets.
Post-tea session
The last session of the day saw the Aussies move into top gear. Both Love and Michael Clarke attacked the bowling with relish. Given Steve Waugh's impending retirement, the batsmen realise a place will be up for grabs in the national side in the middle order soon.
The 50 run partnership between the duo came off just 53 balls. Clarke took his chances, going after anything that was full with quick and sure footwork.
Love looked very elegant at the crease, bringing back memories of Mark Waugh. He played strokes all round the wicket with the effortless ease that is the mark of class batsmen.
The message from the Australia A team management was obvious: Get quick runs. Love reached his 50 off 95 balls. He scored 44 in the next 35 balls before he got out. The right-hander was dismissed trying to cut a ball very close to the body. Pathan got the ball to bounce and come back off the seam to kiss Love's gloves on the way to Dasgupta. There was little Love could have done to avoid the delivery.
Pathan was the most impressive of the Indian bowlers in the final session, getting the ball to swing into the right-hander as late as the 70th over.
All-rounder Cameron White, who was the next batsman, chanced his arm, hit a few streaky fours and was clean bowled by Kartik going for another big hit.
Clarke quickly progressed to 38 off 44 deliveries before Australia A declared their innings closed. It was a sporting declaration that put the onus on Ganguly and his men.
Not that Ramesh did much for his captain's confidence in him. The lefthander, who started the tour with a half-century, looked out of touch. He was dismissed trying to turn a short-pitched delivery on the leg side. He failed to keep his eye on the ball and got a leading edge to Damien Wright at gully of fast bowler Matthew Nicholson.
Akash Chopra (12) and Deep Dasgupta (18) negotiated the remaining overs without any alarms. At the close, India were 37 for the loss of one wicket.
Scorecard
Australia A first innings:
M.Hussey c Ganguly b Nehra 67
C.Rogers c Dasgupta b Ganguly 70
M.Love c Dasgupta b Pathan 94
B.Hodge b Nehra 1
M.Clarke not out 38
C.White b Kartik 15
W.Seccombe not out 0
Extras (b-6 nb-17 w-3) 26
Total (for five wickets dec, 74.4 overs) 311
Did not bat: M.Nicholson, D.Wright, P.Rofe, S.Tait.
Fall of wickets: 1-119 2-204 3-207 4-279 5-302
Bowling: Pathan 22-6-77-1 (w-3), Balaji 18-2-84-0 (nb-9), Nehra 10-2-33-2, Ganguly 8-1-38-1 (nb-7), Tendulkar 1-0-9-0, Kartik 15.4-2-64-1 (nb-1).
India first innings:
A.Chopra not out 12
S.Ramesh c Wright b Nicholson 4
D.Dasgupta not out 18
Extras (lb-3) 3
Total (for one wicket, 13 overs) 37
To bat: S.Ganguly (captain), V.Sehwag, S.Tendulkar, P.Patel, M.Kartik, L.Balaji, A.Nehra, I.Pathan.
Bowling: Nicholson 5-2-10-1, Wright 4-3-2-0, White 2-0-14-0, Tait 2-0-8-0.
Fall of wicket: 1-5
