IND A vs AUS A: Mukesh Kumar takes 6/46 to run through hosts

India’s Mukesh Kumar, who last week was ignored from the squad for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, sent a timely reminder to the selectors in the first unofficial Test against Australia ‘A’, taking a six-wicket haul to help India ‘A’ bounce back from a horror batting performance on day one.

Mukesh, who took the wickets of Sam Konstas and Beau Webster on day one, added four more to his tally on the morning of the second day to finish with figures of 6/46. He broke the 51-run stand between Cooper Connolly and Nathan McSweeney and then ran through the lower-order, dismissing all of Josh Phillipe, Todd Murphy and Brendan Doggett.

Mukesh’s efforts helped India ‘A’ to restrict Australia to 195, keeping the lead down to 88.

This is the ninth five-wicket haul of Mukesh’s career; five of them have turned out to be six-fors. Incidentally, 6/46 is the 31-year-old’s third-best figures in first-class cricket, with the first two being the 6/32 against Bihar earlier this year and 6/40 against Bangladesh ‘A’ in 2022.

Overall, the right-armer has taken 198 first-class wickets at a superb average of 21. 

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