A top-order onslaught on either side of a three-hour rain interruption secured Australia A a nine-wicket victory over India A at the Green Park Stadium in Kanpur on Friday and levelled the three-match series one game apiece.
Jake Fraser-McGurk and Mackenzie Harvey (70 n.o., 49b, 10×4, 2×6) walloped their way to 48 runs inside six overs. Fraser-McGurk had edged Arshdeep Singh to third man in the third over, but a third-umpire check deemed the catch was grassed and handed him a reprieve. He made the most of the let-off, slapping the left-arm pacer through covers for three consecutive boundaries in the same over.
The opening burst meant Australia A needed 112 runs off 115 deliveries when play resumed and the affair was reduced to a 25-over contest.
Harvey had flicked Harshit Rana over deep square leg before the rain, and he emulated the shot against Yudhvir Singh post resumption. Fraser-McGurk sliced Nishant Sindhu over long off for another maximum, but perished on the very next ball, trying the same hit over deep covers.
Cooper Connolly took apart the tweakers in his 31-ball 50 as Australia A reached the 160-run target in the 17th over.
A lopsided contest was not on the cards at the mid-innings break. More was expected from the Indian bowlers after Tilak Varma’s spirited 94 had got India A to a fighting 246.
The southpaw had anchored India’s chase in the Asia Cup final less than a week ago. On Friday, after India A won the toss and opted to bat, Tilak added to his credentials as a dependable middle-order bat by steering his side through a top-order collapse.
The brewing anticipation around Abhishek Sharma’s inclusion met an anticlimactic end when he chased a wide delivery and edged to first slip for a golden duck. Last game’s centurion, Shreyas Iyer, then could not defend his castle against a nip-backer from Jack Edwards, and India A sank deeper.
At 17 for three, Tilak and Riyan Parag brought up a century alliance to navigate through the early jitters.
An edge past second slip on an attempted cover drive hardly made for an ideal start for Riyan. But his nerves had settled by the time he clobbered a free hit from Sam Elliott over the midwicket boundary in the 11th over.
At the other end, Tilak was relishing the task at hand, plotting together India A’s recovery in singles. He waited for a favourable match-up against leg-spinner Tanveer Sangha to go for his first big hit. Tilak used the turn to pick deliveries from outside and swept them through square leg, first for a four and then a six.
Riyan punished width, especially against Sam Elliot, whom he swatted down the ground twice on his way to a 49-ball century. But for a second-straight game, Riyan threw it away as he was snaffled at mid on while trying to hoist Will Sutherland down the ground.
But Tilak did not veer off course and held his end even as India A lost three wickets in the space of 18 runs. He picked Elliott’s length delivery down the ground before unleashing a reverse sweep against Connolly for four.
The striking attribute of Tilak’s essay was that he barely tried to bludgeon his shots. Nothing gave a truer account of it than his boundary against Sangha, for which he stepped out, got to the pitch, and rolled his wrists on a drive to pierce the narrowest of openings between short cover and mid off.
HIGHLIGHTS | AUS A beats IND A by nine wickets in rain-hit match
India’s tail did not make Tilak’s work easier, preferring the fleeting thrill of slogging across the line over providing steady support. Harshit Rana freed his levers for slogs over midwicket but perished for a 13-ball 21 when he charged down Sangha and offered a leading edge to short third man.
Yudhvir Singh Charak fluffed a regulation full toss to deep midwicket against the part-timer Harvey, who was rolling his arm over for the first time. Ravi Bishnoi’s resistance lasted 30 deliveries, but even he could not resist an on-sided heave against Sangha and picked deep midwicket on 26.
Left with last-man Arshdeep, Tilak abandoned caution. He deposited Sutherland’s length delivery, angling into his pads, beyond the square leg ropes. It was on another attempted heave, this one over long off, that Tilak miscued a shot and met his end.
Though Tilak was only agonisingly short of his century, India A missed a fighting score by a fair distance.
Published on Oct 03, 2025