Australia’s tour of India began with a practice match against Boards’s President XI on Tuesday at the M. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. Australia won the match by 103 runs.
Australia came directly from Bangladesh after a two-match Test series which ended level at 1-1. The second leg of 2017 Australia’s tour of India will have five One Day Internationals and three T20 internationals.
Australia won the toss and decided to bat first against President XI led by Gurkeerat Singh Mann. As it was not a list A match, all the players were allowed to bat and field in the game. Australia opened the innings with David Warner and Hilton Cartwright.
However, the pair did not last long, as the visitors lost their first wicket without opening their account in the form Hilton Cartwright. Avesh Khan got India their first breakthrough. Next came in their captain Steven Smith who steadied their innings with a hundred run partnership with Warner. Warner then fell on 64 of the bowling of Kushang Patel.
Smith also fell soon after adding 28 runs for the second wicket with Travis Head. Smith fell on a well made 55 runs. Head went on to score a half-century before falling to Akshay Karnewar on 65. Marcus Stoinis and Matthew Wade then accelerated the Australia innings down the order. The pair added a quick fire 88 runs from 70 balls for the fourth wicket.
Stoinis scored 76 of 60 balls which included five sixes and four boundaries in his innings. On the other hand, Wade justified his selection with a quick fire 45 of 24 deliveries. The visitors ended their innings on 347/7 in their allotted 50 overs.
For the President XI team, the only noticeable performance was of the lanky off-spinner, Washington Sundar. He picked up two wickets and gave away just 23 runs in his eight overs. Kushang Patel also picked up two wickets in his six overs.
In the second innings, President XI suffered an early stutter, as they lost in Rahul Tripathi with just ten runs on the board. Shreevats Goswami and Mayank Aggarwal were the only major contributors for the President XI’s side, as they scored 43 and 42 runs, respectively. Akshay Karnewar and Kushang Patel scored 40 and 41 down the order, as this was not enough for President XI, as they were bundled out for 244 in 48.2 overs.
Australian bowlers got wickets at regular intervals. Ashton Agar was the pick of the bowlers, as he picked up four wickets in 8.2 overs giving away 44 runs. Kane Richardson also picked up two wickets.
The five match ODI series between India and Australia starts on 17th September.