Kumar Kushagra and Shams Mulani the standout performers as India A beat Australia A by 162 runs in 1st unofficial Test

Player of the Match Kumar Kushagra (113) and Kotian (69) then provided rear-guard action on the opening day to rescue India A, and eventually the hosts posted a solid total of 334 in the first innings. On a pitch that was offering ample assistance to the spinners, Mulani displayed his class the next day, taking four wickets as Australia A fell like a pack of cards. The side was dismissed for 171, allowing India A to gain a substantial lead.

Even the Australia A bowlers came into their own in the second innings, making full use of the up-and-down pitch, but India got to 199 owing to Kushgra's unbeaten 46-run knock.

Devdutt Padikkal and Sai Sudharsan, who are fighting it out for the No.3 slot for the upcoming New Zealand Tests, got one fifty each in the A fixture. Sudharsan, who played as an opener, slammed a half-century (57) in the first innings, while Padikkal got one (59) in the second innings, playing a captain's hand.

The need of the hour was for Sudharsan to register a daddy hundred to have any chance of leapfrogging Padikkal in the pecking order for India's No.3 slot in Tests, but that didn't happen. The Karnataka batter stays ahead in the race owing to his Player of the Series effort against Sri Lanka.

However, Fergus O Neill and Todd Murphy delayed the inevitable and took the game into the second session. Mulani (3/57, seven in the game) then got the job done as he dismissed all three remaining batters, and India A took a 1-0 lead in the two-match series.

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