Australians gain upper hand against India A

Mumbai: Half-centuries by Mitchell Marsh and Matthew Wade coupled with an excellent bowling performance enabled Australians to take the upper hand on the penultimate day of their three-day tie against India A here on Saturday. Resuming their first innings at the overnight 327/5, the visitors rode on strong batting displays by Marsh and Wade before declaring at 469/7. Australian pacer Jackson Bird and off-spinner Nathan Lyon then picked up a couple of wickets each as India A posted 176/4 in their first innings by the end of the day's play. The in-form Shreyas Iyer was batting on 85 with Rishabh Pant on three at the other end as India A trailed by 293 runs at the close. The morning session was dominated by the Australians as Marsh and Wade managed to find the boundary ropes at regular intervals. Wade notched up 64 runs, hitting nine boundaries during his 89-ball stay in the middle before being dismissed by off-spinner Akhil Herwadkar. Marsh was in an equally belligerent mood at the other end, scoring 75 runs off 159 balls with 11 hits to the fence and six. Pacer Navdeep Saini was the most successful among the India A bowlers with figures of 2/42. Hardik Pandya, Shahbaz Nadeem and Herwadkar bagged a wicket each. In reply, India A were off to a rocky start in their first innings. Herwadkar was the first to depart following a successful caught and bowled attempt by Lyon. The Australian off-spinner dismissed the other India A opener Priyank Panchal as well before Ankit Bawne was trapped leg before by Bird. Iyer and Pandya then tried to bring the innings back on track with a 52-run stand before the latter was caught behind off Bird's bowling. Brief scores: Australians (First Innings): 469/7 declared (Steven Smith 107 retired out, Shaun Marsh 104 retired out, Mitchell Marsh 75, Matthew Wade 64; Navdeep Saini 2/42) vs India A (First Innings): 176/4 (Shreyas Iyer 85 batting; Jackson 2/15, Nathan Lyon 2/72).