Australia hit the ground running

Published>Sun, Sep 26 10 10:48 AM

Australia had reasons to be satisfied after their first full day on field since landing in India. The opening day of their game against Board President's XI saw the visitors score 319/1 with openers Simon Katich (104) and Shane Waton (115) hitting the ground running. For the home team, even finding positives wasn't easy.

Pacer S Sreesanth, recalled for the Test squad, was the biggest disappointment. He started erratically and that didn't change all day. He tried to bowl short but the batsmen were never in trouble. Sreesanth went round the stumps against the left-handed Katich and tried the same trick against right-handed Michael Clarke towards the end. This too didn't work. His 13 overs at the Sector 16 stadium here on Saturday showed that the debate surrounding India's third pacer in Tests is far from over.

The less-experienced Umesh Yadav lacked application to bowl on a pitch that played slow. Rookie Jaidev Unadkat got the shape on the ball right but the gentleness of his pace and his inability to bowl the perfect line meant he didn't hassle the Australian openers.

Leg-spinner Piyush Chawla looked too rusty and it was left to Pragyan Ojha to challenge the batsmen. The left-arm spinner managed to evoke confidence by plugging the leak and did just enough to keep the national selectors interested.

Though Australia's offer of fielding 12 players was rejected by the BCCI, who wanted the game to have first-class status, the visitors were not complaining. The key players in the Australian team got enough time in the middle. Katich and Watson exercised more caution than required in the first session but changed gears in the second. The first session saw just a couple of shouts and a missed run out chance. In comparison, the second session had more excitement. After lunch an edge from Katich's bat flew past Shikhar Dhawan, who later spilled a low catch at second slip off Unadkat.

The openers were finally separated at 207, when Ricky Ponting walked in with Shane Watson to commence the third session. Katich retired for 104 just before tea and Watson joined him soon after, scoring 115. But things didn't change for Board President XI with Ponting and Clarke as they remained unbeaten on 43 and 42 respectively.

Brief scores: Australia 319/1 in 90 overs (S Watson 115, S Katich 104 retd; P Chawla 1/120) vs Board President's XI

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