Wriddhiman Saha got himself some invaluable batting practice ahead of the first Test against Australia, but his other famed Indian colleagues failed to bat long as their warm-up game against Australia-A ended in a draw here on Tuesday.
Medium-pacer Mark Steketee, who returned five for 37, stood in the way of what could have been a few sessions of good batting practice on the third and final day for the touring Indians.
Making up for his first-innings nought, Saha top-scored with 54 off 100 balls (7x4). Behind by 59, the Indians declared their second innings at 189 for nine. The Australians, needing 130 in 15 overs, reached 52 for one when stumps were drawn.
Pucovski concussed
Meanwhile, Will Pucovski, potentially in line for a Test debut against India in the four-match series beginning with the Day-Night game in Adelaide on Dec. 17, suffered a concussion after being struck on the helmet by pacer Kartik Tyagi and has been ruled out of the second tour game starting on Friday.
The scores: India-A 247/9 decl. in 93 overs & 189/9 decl. in 61 overs (Shubman Gill 29, Hanuma Vihari 28, Ajinkya Rahane 28, Wriddhiman Saha 54 n.o., Mark Steketee 5/37) drew with Australia-A 306/9 decl. in 95 overs (Marcus Harris 35, Cameron Green 125 n.o., Tim Paine 44, Michael Nesser 33, Umesh Yadav 3/48, Mohd. Siraj 3/83, R. Ashwin 2/62) & 52/1 in 15 overs.
