Gaikwad, NKR fail as India A bundled out for 107 against Australia A

In a series that is touted to fill in a lot of rough edges in the Indian squad for the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25, India A couldn’t muster enough strength to face the Aussie pacers as they were bundled out for 107 after being sent in to bat first at the Great Barrier Reef Arena in Mackay, on October 31, 2024 (Thursday).

Barring Sai Sudharsan and Devdutt Padikkal, who scored 21 and 36 runs respectively, none of the top or middle-order batters could handle the sustained pressure from the duo of Jordan Buckingham and Brendan Doggett. Later on, Navdeep Saini chipped in with 23 runs to ensure India A crossed the 100-run mark. 

So bad was India’s batting that skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad was dismissed for a golden duck by Buckingham before Test hopeful Nitish Reddy, who had a smashing T20 debut recently against Bangladesh, suffered a six-ball duck. 

Former India A skipper Abhimanyu Easwaran, who just made it to the Indian Test squad, also disappointed, chipping in with only seven runs. South Australia pacer Doggett bagged six wickets of his own. 

As the second innings commences, the focus will be on Prasidh Krishna, who is a member of India’s 18-man contingent for BGT.

Australia A Playing XI: Sam Konstas, Marcus Harris, Cameron Bancroft, Nathan McSweeney (c), Beau Webster, Cooper Connolly, Josh Philippe (wk), Fergus O Neill, Todd Murphy, Brendan Doggett, Jordan Buckingham

India A Playing XI: Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Abhimanyu Easwaran, Sai Sudharsan, Devdutt Padikkal, Baba Indrajith, Ishan Kishan (wk), Nitish Reddy, Manav Suthar, Navdeep Saini, Prasidh Krishna, Mukesh Kumar 

(The report will be updated after the end of Day 1’s play)