Chennai: Australia kicked off their limited overs tour of India with a 103-run win in the one-off warm-up tie against the Board President’s XI at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium here on Tuesday.
Electing to bat, Australia rode on half centuries by skipper Steve Smith (55), opener David Warner (64), Travis Head (65) and Marcus Stoinis (76) to post a mammoth 347/7 before bundling the hosts out for a meagre 244.
Australia started with a 105-run second wicket stand between Warner and Smith before Stoinis and Head added 88 runs for the fifth wicket to leave the inexperienced home bowlers high and dry.
Thereafter, wicketkeeper-batsman Matthew Wade (45) and Stoinis joined forces to add another 85 runs for the sixth wicket as Australia looked set for a massive score.
For the hosts, medium pacer Kushang Patel and off-spinner Washington Sundar picked two wickets apiece while Akshay Karnewar, Avesh Khan and Kulwant Khejroliya took one wicket each.
In reply, the Gurkeerat Singh-led side started well with opener Shreevats Goswami (43) and one-down Mayank Agarwal (42) putting on a 79-run second wicket stand after the early loss of Rahul Tripathi (7).
But things went awry for the hosts after the introduction of spin with left-arm spinner Ashton Agar (4/44) and leggie Adam Zampa (1/59) ripping through the home line-up.
Towards the end, Maharashtra left-arm spinner Karnewar blasted a fiery 28-ball 40 and Kushang had an unbeaten 48-ball 41 to put up a 66-run ninth wicket stand, but the target looked improbable once Karnewar fell to all-rounder James Faulkner.
Australia will now face India in five One-day Internationals (ODI) and three T20 Internationals, starting with the first 50-over clash here on September 17.
Brief Scores: Australia 347/7 (Marcus Stoinis 76, Travis Head 65, David Warner 64, Steve Smith 55, Washington Sundar 2/23) beat Board President’s XI 244 (Shreevats Goswami 43, Mayank Agarwal 42, Kushang Patel 41 not out, Ashton Agar 4/44) by 103 runs.(IANS)
