Tyagi tops but Aussies escape

• On a day when everything moved at a snail’s pace, Sudeep Tyagi’s late burst injected a degree of artificial excitement. The strapping medium pacer’s four wickets in the final session came a little too late though, allowing Australia A escape with a draw against India A.
• The three-day affair, which ended at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on Friday, could have been more interesting if five hours of play were not lost on the first two days. For, the Australians after adding just three runs to their overnight first innings score of 113/8 before being dismissed, were struggling at 263/7 following on, when play was called off.
• The day began on a bright note, assuring that there would be no loss of play. Mohnish Parmar (3/37) and Piyush Chawla (3/39) were on the job right away, needing just nine balls to dismiss the last two Aussie batsmen.
• Trailing by 168, the tourists led by captain Simon Katich, were positive in the second essay. Early wickets and spinners had troubled them in the first innings, but on a sultry day the Australian batsmen played more purposefully.
• Openers Simon Katich and Philip Hughes (43 (68b, 8x4, 1x6) took the attack to the Indians and used their feet to good effect to drive the spinners through the off-side. After a quick 88-run opening partnership, Hughes threw away all the good work. The 19-year-old, chased a Parmar doosra and was caught behind by Parthiv Patel. Five over later, Parmar struck again when Adam Voges (9) holed out to Tyagi at deep square-leg.
• Marcus North (88, 149b, 10x4), joined Katich (56, 112b, 7x4, 1x6) in the middle and the southpaws allayed any fears of another batting collapse. Katich, with his unorthodox but effective batting style, used his past experience on Indian pitches to handle Parmar and Chawla with ease. For Indians, the breakthrough however refused to materialise. Skipper S. Badrinath thought it was time for some slow off-spin from himself and Katich responded by gifting his wicket.