CANBERRA: Harshit Rana’s four-wicket haul, followed by a combined batting effort, led India to a commanding five-wicket victory over Australia’s Prime Minister (PM) XI in the two-day pink-ball warm-up fixture here at Manuka Oval on Sunday. p>
In a match, reduced to 46 overs per side due to rain, India’s regular captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and put PM XI into bat.
The home side had a shaky start to their innings as they were reduced to 22/2 as Akash Deep and Mohammed Siraj made early inroads.p>
Following the early hiccup, opening batter Sam Konstas joined hands with Jack Clayton and launched recovery.p>
The duo added 109 runs to the total until Harshit Rana dismissed Clayton, who scored an anchoring 40 off 52 deliveries.p>
Rana inflicted a middle-order collapse with three more wickets in quick succession, resulting in the PM XI slipping to 138/7 in 25.3 overs.p>
But Konstas remained firm and put together a fighting 67-run partnership with Hanno Jacobs before finally perishing in the 38th over.p>
He top-scored for PM XI with a gritty 107 off 97 deliveries, studded with 14 fours and a six.p>
Despite ending up on the losing side, Konstas was adjudged the player of the match for his fighting century.p>
Jacobs, on the other hand, put together one-sided partnerships Jack Nisbet and Charlie Anderson before eventually falling victim to Washington Sundar in the 44th over.p>
He scored 61 off 60 balls with the help of four fours and two sixes.p>
Rana starred with the ball for India, taking four wickets, while Akash bagged two. Prasidh Krishna, Siraj, Sundar and Ravindra Jadeja made one scalp apiece.p>
In response, India comfortably chased down the total for the loss of just five wickets, courtesy of Shubman Gill’s half-century.p>
The top-order batter, who missed the opening Test due to a thumb injury, found his touch ahead of the pink-ball Test against Australia, as he top-scored for India in the warm-up fixture with a 62-ball 50.p>
He was followed by India’s first Test centurion Yashasvi Jaiswal, who scored 45 up the order, while Nitish Kumar Reddy and Washington Sundar contributed with 42 each.p>
For PM XI, Anderson took two wickets, while Lloyd Pope, Matt Renshaw and Clayton shared three between them.