The Australians piled up 505 for eight declared, courtesy a brilliant century from Marcus North. North punished all the Board President’s XI bowlers as he scored 124 in only 128 deliveries before retiring. His innings was studded with 19 boundaries and two sixes.
When the home team batsmen came out to bat, the Australian pacers put up a better performance than their Indian counterparts. Suddenly the track that was termed “lifeless” by Board President’s XI captain Gautam Gambhir looked like having a lot of pace and bounce.
By the 15th over, Board President’s XI were reduced to 53 for five. Then it was Piyush Chawla (64 batting) and wicketkeeper-batsman Wriddhiman Saha (14) who stemmed the rot with a 37-run sixth wicket partnership.
Then Chawla along with S Sreesanth (6 batting) added 53 runs for the unbroken seventh wicket stand. Chawla hit nine fours and two sixes in his 73-ball knock.
Skipper Gautam Gambhir would have liked to get some serious batting practice before the first Test but was out scoring only eight when he edged a short ball from Hilfenhaus to wicketkeeper Tim Paine after scoring only eight.
SCOREBOARD
AUSTRALIANS (I Innings, O/n: 319/1): Shane Watson b Chawla 115, Simon Katich (retd hurt) 104, Ricky Ponting b Ojha 42, Michael Clarke c Rahane b Ojha 44, Marcus North (not out) 124, Tim Paine c Saha b Sreesanth 45, Steve Smith lbw Sreesanth 5, Mitchell Johnson b Dhawan 1, Nathan Hauritz (not out) 6, Ben Hilfenhaus lbw Dhawan 0, Peter George c Yadav b Ojha 1. Extras (LB-8, W-2, NB-8) 18. Total (for 8 wkts decl., 144.3 overs) 505.
Fall of wickets: 1-232, 2-322, 3-327, 4-494, 5-497, 6-499, 7-504, 8-505.
Bowling: S Sreesanth 22-6-51-2, Jaidev Unadkat 24-4-104-0, Umesh Yadav 18-2-83-0, Piyush Chawla 39-3-162-1, Pragyan Ojha 33.3-9-67-3, Shikhar Dhawan 8-1-30-2.
BOARD PRESIDENT’S XI (I Innings): Gautam Gambhir c Paine b Hilfenhaus 8, Shikhar Dhawan c Paine b George 17, Ajinkya Rahane c Watson b Hilfenhaus 0, Cheteshwar Pujara b Johnson 9, Saurabh Tiwary c Paine b George 15, Wriddhiman Saha c Paine b Hilfenhaus 14, Piyush Chawla (batting) 64, S Sreesanth (batting) 6. Extras (B-4, LB-4, NB-2) 10. Total (for 6 wkts, 35 overs) 143.
Fall of wickets: 1-12, 2-12, 3-33, 4-47, 5-53, 6-90. Bowling: Ben Hilfenhaus 7-4-28-3, Mitchell Johnson 7-2-20-1, Peter George 5-0-15-2, Shane Watson 5-4-6-0, Nathan Hauritz 9-0-46-0, Steve Smith 2-0-20-0.
