India A struggled to score runs against a mighty Australian bowling attack Saturday as the visitors declared their innings at 469 on the second day of a three-day warm-up match in Mumbai. The home team were 176 for four at close, with Shreyas Iyer (85) and Rishabh Pant (3) unbeaten as they need 293 runs with six wickets in hand to win the practice game at the Brabourne Stadium.
Iyer, who came into bat at number three, showed courage against the Aussie attack, hitting six off spinner Nathan Lyon on the first ball followed by 4 more sixes and 5 fours to reach 85 runs in 93 balls. Australia picked up their first wicket at 19 when Lyon caught opener Akhil Herwadkar (4) off his bowling. He struck again in the 18th over when Priyank Panchal (36) gave an easy one to Peter Handscomb with 63 runs on the scoreboard. His departure brought Ankit Bawne to the middle as he and Iyer stitched a 57-run partnership.
Bawne hit 4 fours in his brisk innings before being caught lbw by paceman Jackson Bird. Towards the end of the day, skipper Hardik Pandya (19) struggled to counter the Australia's bowling and was caught behind off Bird. Bird ended his figures at 2-15 in 11 overs with seven maidens. Lyon bowled 17 overs to end at 2-72.
Spinner Steve O'Keefe and medium pacer Mitchell Marsh put some pressure on the batters from the other end although without any success. Earlier in the day, Marsh followed in his brother Shaun's footsteps, hitting 75 off 159 balls with 11 fours and a six while Matthew Wade scored 64 runs to add another 142 runs to their overnight score to declare at 469 for seven. Steve Smith and Shaun Marsh scored fluent centuries on Friday to put their team in the lead. Australia are touring India on a high profile Test series, with the home side riding an unbeaten 19-match streak. The first of the four-match Test series begins on Thursday in Pune. Brief scores: Australia 469/7 dec India A 176/4 in 51 overs (S Iyer 85, R Pant 3; Lyon 2-72, Bird 2-15).
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