BENGALURU: India’s supply line of batsmen has been good, at least for conditions in the sub-continent. While Karun Nair, KL Rahul, Manish Pandey and Kedar Jadhav made a mark at the international level, waiting for his chance is Maharashtra’s Ankit Bawne.
Bawne failed to utilise his chances with the India A team in England, scoring a total of 44 runs in two innings against West Indies A. However, he turned the tide and played two good innings against South Africa A in the last game, scoring 80 along with an unbeaten 64.
On Monday, the middle-order batsman came to India A’s rescue against Australia A in the four-day match. On a difficult Chinnaswamy Day 2 track, Bawne made an unbeaten 91 when the team was constantly losing wickets from the other end. His batting took India A to 274 and got them a slender 31-run lead, which looked difficult at one point.
Mayank Agarwal and Ravikumar Samarth put on 62 for the opening stand. Their departure triggered a collapse. India A were 127/5 before lunch. Bawne showed maturity in holding his ground and stitched a 51-run partnership with Krishnappa Gowtham (31) for the sixth wicket. His work was not done yet. After Gowtham’s departure, Bawne and Kuldeep Yadav added 47 for the seventh wicket.
“What we needed was a good partnership and we knew Gowtham could bat. That was my target and we sort of succeeded. Once he was out, I had to take more of the strike and stop the collapse,” Bawne said.
After missing out on a hundred against South Africa A in the last game, he couldn’t get to one here either. But Bawne is satisfied that he helped the team.
“In the last game, I got out going for big hits which were not needed at that time. I didn’t do that here. I’m satisfied the way I batted and helped my team. I didn’t make many mistakes and played to my strengths,” said the player, who now has three half-centuries in as many innings.
At the end of the second day’s play here, Australia A were 42/1 with Travis Head (13) and Usman Khawaja (16) at the crease. Michael Neser was Australia A’s best bowler with four wickets for 72 runs.
krishnendu@newindainexpress.com
Brief scores: Australia A 243 & 42/1 vs India A 274 (Ankit Bawne 91 n.o, Mayank Agarwal 47, Michael Neser 4/72, Jon Holland 3/89).
Red vs Blue in Duleep Trophy final today
DINDIGUL: Abhinav Mukund-led India Red takes on India Blue, led by Faiz Fazal, in the final of the Duleep Trophy at the NPR College ground beginning Tuesday. A number of players have performed for India Red, the defending champions, with J&K off-spinner Parvez Rasool, Jharkand tweaker Shahbaz Nadeem and Vidarbha pacer Rajneesh Gurbani chief among them. Mukund hasn’t had a great run so far and would be looking to put his hand up with Indian openers struggling in the ongoing series in England.