Chennai: Stung by his exclusion from the Test squad, Gautam Gambhir replied in the best possible manner by hitting a sparkling century as he guided India A to a comfortable 338 for four against Australia on the opening day of their second and final warm-up game here on Saturday.
Riding on Gambhir’s 112 alongwith solid half-centuries from Rohit Sharma and Manoj Tiwary, India A batsmen dominated the proceedings for the better part of the 90 overs at the Guru Nanak College ground.
En route his 33rd first-class century, Gambhir faced 162 deliveries hitting 13 fours and three sixes. Rohit was fluent during his innings of 77 while Tiwary, who recently made a comeback in competitive cricket after injury lay-off, also looked good for a big one as he was batting on 77.
For Australia, left-arm spinner Xavier Doherty staked a claim for a place in the playing XI of the first Test by claiming three for 69.
Gambhir was finally dismissed on 112 when he was caught by Shane Watson off back-up seamer Moises Henriques’ bowling. However, by the time he was gone, the 31-year-old left-hander had done what he had set out for.
Sharma said the visitors actually have a decent attack and they leaked runs because they were aggressive and experimented with their bowling variations.
“They have a decent attack. They were trying to attack too much with fielders all closing in and so we could take those chances and score runs quickly. Again it is a different ball game when it comes to Test match. They will be bowling more tight. May be they were trying few things today. We took real advantage of that,” Sharma said after the day’s play.
Doherty admitted that the Aussies were expensive: “It was not the best day for spinners. In tour matches, we work out these things to see how it is going. Today was not a great day for our spin group. (PTI)
