India 'A' face tough Aussie test

Outplayed in the four-day games, a new-look India ‘A’ will have to play out of their skins to stop a rampaging Australia ‘A’ when they clash in a tri-series one-day cricket match here on Friday.

Australia ‘A’ have been dominant on this tour so far as they humbled the hosts in the unofficial two-match Test series and hammered South Africans by 10 wickets in the tri-series opener on Wednesday.

The series is an opportunity for players like Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Sanju Samson, Karun Nair and Karn Sharma to impress the selectors and stake their claim in the national side.

Top-order batsman Karun Nair, from Karnataka, is the lone player who was part of the squad in the two-Test series that concluded last week.

The Indian pace attack would revolve around Sandeep Sharma, Rush Kalaria, Rishi Dhawan and Dhawal Kulkarni but the Chennai wickets are on the slower side and appear spin-friendly.

The Australians have more or less mastered the conditions. They have proved themselves in both bowling and batting. Especially, captain Usman Khawaja’s planning and strategies have worked wonders so far.

Going by the current form of the Aussies, they look formidable but it remains to be seen if the Rahul Dravid-coached India A can make good use of the home advantage. Skipper Unmukt Chand, who led India to under-19 World Cup win in 2012, was optimistic about team’s chances.