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India A bowlers led a spirited fightback but Australia A tightened grip on the unofficial one-off women’s Test, with the hosts’ overall lead surging to 192 runs here on the second day on Friday. India A skipper Minnu Mani completed her match haul of 10 wickets but Kate Peterson returned an impactful 12-5-16-5 to hand Australia a slender 28-run lead in the first innings, as the visitors were bowled out for 184 in reply to the host’s 212.
Resuming at 100/2, India A looked on course to take a substantial lead but fell short as Peterson ran through the middle order.
India’s set batters Tejal Hasabnis (32) and Shweta Sehrawat (40) were the first to fall as the tourists lost five wickets for 27 runs before Sayali Satghare (21), Mani (17) and Mannat Kashyap (19) put up 56 runs to deny Australia a huge lead.
Mani then swung into action with the ball immediately as Australia A batters’ once again struggled against Indian spinners. The off-spinner first removed opener Georgia Voll and her Australian counterpart Charli Knott for ducks in consecutive overs to reduce the hosts to 0/2 at one stage.
Mani, who claimed a five-wicket haul in the first essay, also got rid of Nicole Faltum (16) before she cleaned up Tess Fintoo with an off-break.
However, opener Emma de Broughe continued to hold fort from one end as she scored 58 runs off 117 balls before falling prey to rookie leg-spinner Priya Mishra.
Wicketkeeper Maddy Drake took matters into her own hands by hitting an unbeaten half century (54 not out of 100 deliveries) to lead Australia’s recovery further as the hosts reached 164/7 at the end of play.
Drake added 54 for the sixth wicket with Maitlan Brown (26 off 45) before the latter became Mani’s tenth wicket in the game.
Brief Scores: Australia A 212 and 164 for 7 (Emma de Broughe 58, Manddy Darke 54 not out; Minnu Mani 5/47) lead India A 184 (Shweta Sehrawart 40, Tejal Hasabnis 32; Kate Peterson 5/16) by 192 runs. PTI APA DDV
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