Captain Ruturaj Gaikwad suffers twin failures vs Australia A
India A captain Ruturaj Gaikwad has made a poor start to the tour of Australia. He suffered twin failures in the ongoing unofficial Test in Mackay. On November 1, he was dismissed for a paltry five runs in the second innings. This came after his first-innings dismissal without scoring any runs, extending his streak of poor form. Here are further details.
Gaikwad's dismissals and India A's batting woes
Gaikwad began the second innings with a boundary in the third over but was soon dismissed by Fergus O'Neill. The India A skipper attempted a cover drive and edged the ball straight to the slips. His dismissal was followed by Abhimanyu Easwaran's run-out, leaving India A in a difficult position early in their innings. Meanwhile, Gaikwad bagged a golden duck in the first innings as pacer Jordan Buckingham trapped him with the new ball.
A look at his FC numbers
Coming to his FC stats, Gaikwad has seven centuries in the format. He also has 14 half-centuries to his name. In 36 matches, the Maharashtra batter has propelled to 2,518 runs in red-ball cricket. The opener carries an average of over 43. Gaikwad, who has represented India in six ODIs and 23 T20Is, is yet to feature in Test cricket.
Sudharsan and Padikkal steady India A's innings
Despite the early setbacks in the second innings, Sai Sudharsan and Devdutt Padikkal steadied India A's innings. Their resolute batting helped India A take the lead in the match. This was a far cry from their first-innings total of 107 runs, where Gaikwad and other batters failed to make an impact.
Mukesh Kumar shines with 6-wicket haul
On the second day of the unofficial Test, India A's pacer Mukesh Kumar ran through Australia A's batting line-up. He took six wickets for just 46 runs, breaking Australia A's middle order and helping his team bowl the hosts out for 195 runs. His sensational spell included the wickets of Beau Webster (33), Campbell Kellaway (37), Josh Philippe, Brendan Doggett and Todd Murphy.
