India A lost three early wickets again, and Australia A have the one-day series with a game to spare

Two games, two collapses at the top. India A were 30 for 3 in the ninth over of their chase of 276 at the Cricket Association Pondicherry Siechem Ground on Friday, 9 October, and they never caught up. Ruturaj Gaikwad’s side were bowled out for 206 in 45.2 overs, Australia A won by 69 runs, and Nathan McSweeney’s team are 2-0 up with one game left.

Gaikwad didn’t dress it up. “When you lose three in the powerplay, you are on the back foot, and after that, we were playing catch-up,” he said.

Konstas and Philippe set it up

Australia A won the toss and batted, as they had on Tuesday. This time the top order did the work. Mitchell Owen hit 25 off 13 balls before Yash Thakur had him caught at 32 for 1 in the fourth over, and Sam Konstas and Josh Philippe then put on 101 for the second wicket.

Philippe was the quicker of the two, 58 from 58 balls with eight fours, until Nishant Sindhu had him caught by Gaikwad. Konstas went slower. The 21-year-old, who made his Test debut against India at the MCG in December 2024, took 88 balls over his 67 before Arshad Khan got him at 168 for 3 in the 30th over.

At 207 for 4 after 37 overs, something past 300 was there for the taking. It didn’t happen. McSweeney was run out for 32, Liam Scott, Nikhil Chaudhary and Ben Dwarshuis went cheaply, and the last six wickets fell for 68. Arshad finished with 3 for 56 and Thakur with 2 for 46. Spencer Johnson’s 14 not out from seven balls at number eleven got the total to 275 in the final over.

McSweeney had already said what he made of the pitch. “If you can get a total in the 270-300 range, it becomes tough with the ball going soft,” he said.

Johnson and the new ball

India A’s reply went the way Tuesday’s did. Johnson had Devdutt Padikkal caught for 1 in the fifth over, Riley Meredith removed Gaikwad for 12 from five balls, and Dwarshuis got Sai Sudharsan for 13. That was 30 for 3, and the chase was already uphill.

Rajat Patidar kept it alive for a while. He made 67 from 82 balls, his second fifty in two games after 53 on Tuesday, and added 51 for the fifth wicket with Sindhu. Nobody else in the top seven got past 17, though, and when Johnson had Patidar caught by Konstas at 134 for 6 in the 33rd over, the game was effectively over.

India A were 168 for 9 in the 38th. Anukul Roy, who only joined the squad as cover after Naman Dhir was called up to India’s T20I side, made 34 not out from 40 balls and added 38 for the last wicket with Thakur before Owen ended it. Johnson took 3 for 35 from his eight overs, Meredith 2 for 31 and Tanveer Sangha 2 for 42.

One game left

Johnson was named player of the match, and he credited the tone Mahli Beardman set with his 4 for 23 in the first game. “What we saw the other night, with Mahli’s aggression, we wanted to continue that,” he said.

India A won the four-day series 1-0 earlier on the tour, so the honours are split going into Sunday’s third one-dayer at the same ground. If India A want to avoid a clean sweep, it starts with the first ten overs. They have lost three wickets inside them in both games.

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