Australia-A on top after setting India-A a tricky 365-run chase on final day
At 28 for one, still 337 away from the target, and with the looming threat from Todd Murphy and Corey Rocchiciolli, India-A has little choice other than going for win.
Updated : Oct 01, 2026 18:16 IST , Puducherry - 4 MINS READ
Corey Rocchiccioli picked three wickets as Australia-A bowled out India-A for 167 in the first innings. | Photo Credit: CAP
Corey Rocchiccioli picked three wickets as Australia-A bowled out India-A for 167 in the first innings. | Photo Credit: CAP
B. Sai Sudharsan and Ayush Pandey’s hastened approach in the fourth innings hinted India-A was interested in chasing the 365-run target by Australia-A. But the capped senior’s fall left India-A with a predicament at the end of day three of the second unofficial Test at the Siechem Cricket Stadium in Pondicherry.
At 28 for one, still 337 away from the target, and with the looming threat from Todd Murphy and Corey Rocchiciolli, India-A has little choice other than going for win.
That is precisely what the openers did, each square driving to grab early boundaries. However, Sudharsan chopping on against Murphy on a short, wide delivery forced India-A to stall the approach for the day and send night-watchman Tushar Deshpande.
Pandey and Deshpande survived till Stumps, but Murphy extracted enough purchase to tilt the odds heavily in favour of Australia-A going into the final day.
Australia-A had tightened the noose around India-A in the morning session as it attained a lead worth 191 runs.
Shaik Rasheed did not waver from his watchful vigil that had got him through the second day. But Kotian at the other end showed an inclination to change gears.
His hoick down the ground off Todd Murphy, which sent the ball outside the ground and caused a brief delay, was bookended by a clip through mid-on and a late cut off Liam Hatcher.
Rasheed’s toil was eventually for nothing. Hatcher generated reverse-swing to send a length delivery tailing in into his off-stump. Kotian also lost his off-stump, but off Corey Rocchiccioli, who got one to turn square and run through his bat-pad.
Shams Mulani was India’s last hope of surviving the session, but he perished against Jhye Richardson, chopping on off a delivery that snuck low.
Tail-enders Anshul Kamboj and Nachiket Bhute had already been undone by the low bounce as India-A folded on 167, losing its last five wickets for 10 runs.
But the pitch looked nowhere close to a minefield as Josh Philippe (26, 41b, 3x4) and Sam Konstas (40, 72b, 1x4) put on a 50-run partnership for the opening wicket.
Philippe utilised the errant lines from Deshpande and Bhute, to whip them through the on-side for two boundaries. Konstas used his tall frame to stand up to a hard-length delivery and swat Bhute past mid-on.
The pair could have piled on more had Philippe not chased a risky single and ran himself out to a Tushar Deshpande direct hit. Konstas ran hard between the wickets for his runs, but shuffled too far across to Kotian and saw his leg-stump broken.
Peter Handscomb bore the ignominy of managing a pair as missed a length ball off his back foot and was castled by Kotian. The off-spinner should have had Jason Sangha (44 n.o., 63b, 4x4, 1x6) too, on a four-ball duck, but Devdutt Padikkal spilled the edge at first slip.
And for a fourth time this series, Sangha asserted himself against the spinners, starting with a sweep on the first ball after his reprieve.
Nathan McSweeney (36, 88b, 3x4) was not flamboyant even once through his 88-ball 36, barring a sweep off Mulani. The only time tried an audacious pull, the ball skidded low and castled him by Praful Hinge, who replaced India-bound Kamboj after Lunch.
Sangha deposited Kotian into the sight screen and was on the cusp of a fifty when Handscomb declared on 173 and threw the gauntlet at India-A.
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