After narrowly going down in the first Test, India A yet again suffered a batting collapse but all-rounder Hardik Pandya stood tall amidst the ruins with an unbeaten 79. The 22-year-old walked in when his side was tottering at 46/6 and battled hard with the tail to take the visitors to 169/9 on a first day that was cut short by bad light. Australia A's pacers had a field day with Kane Richardson (3/37) and Jackson Bird (3/53) being the standouts.
Australia A skipper Joe Burns elected to field first on a Brisbane wicket that troubled the batsmen immensely on the last two days of the first Test. Overnight rain only aided the pacers, who ran through the Indian top order, reducing them to 11/4, with Karun Nair, Akhil Herwadkar and Manish Pandey falling in the space of six deliveries.
Naman Ojha and Sanju Samson set about rebuilding the innings, but, yet again, India A lost wickets in a hurry. The gutsy Pandya, along with Jayant Yadav (28) built a 78-run stand for the seventh wicket. Just before the tea break, Richardson came back to castle Jadav but Pandya battled on with the tail. Richardson came back to end Dhawal Kulkarni's resistance while Bird dismissed Shardul Thakur before bad light ended play. Only 66 overs were bowled during the day. Australia A lead the two-Test match series 1-0.
Brief Scores:
India A 169/9 (Hardik Pandya 79 not out, Jayant Yadav 28; Kane Richardson 3/33, Jackson Bird 3/53) vs Australia A
