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A prelude to the bigger battles ahead

K.C. Vijaya Kumar

CRICKET / Three-day match between India ‘A’ and Australia ‘A’ from today

— Photo: K. Bhagya Prakash

READY FOR THE CHALLENGE: Australia ‘A,’ led by Simon Katich, has quite a few players who are familiar with Indian conditions and it could come in handy for the visitor.

Bangalore: It might well be the prelude to bigger battles ahead. The three-day match between S. Badrinath’s India ‘A’ and Simon Katich’s Australia ‘A’ that will commence at the Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Wednesday, is an opportunity for both the teams to appraise resources that will prove critical when Ricky Ponting’s men wing their way to Bangalore for the first Test from October 9.

The word ‘transition’ has done innumerable rounds in both the Indian and Australian camps but with a slew of retirements down under over the past two years, Ponting’s men have learnt to cope with it while in India, there is apprehension over the impending vacuum as and when the seniors leave.

Playing it safe

On the eve of the match, a query on the ‘Fab Four’s’ mixed returns in Sri Lanka and the opportunity to force his way into the Test squad, was handled with diplomacy by Badrinath. “I need to score runs, get many under my belt. I cannot worry about off-field issues like selection,” the skipper said. Badrinath was quick to focus on the immediate task at hand — the matches against Australia ‘A’ and also the tri-series at Hyderabad and Chennai.

“Top teams like Australia and New Zealand will be playing and it is up to us to raise the stakes with good performances,” Badrinath said.

The India ‘A’ squad is a mix of players high on talent and hope. Mohammad Kaif, Robin Uthappa and leg-spinners Piyush Chawla and Amit Mishra are hoping to find their way back while Virat Kohli needs to consolidate the gains of the Sri Lankan tour.

The other hopefuls include batsmen Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane and seamers S.R. Tyagi and local lad R. Vinay Kumar. The bowling attack has its share of woes as S. Sreesanth skipped training. “He has got a stiff back and we are doing all that we can to get him back,” coach Dav Whatmore said.

Australia will open with the combine of skipper Katich and youngster Phillip Hughes. And with vice-captain Adam Voges, having led Western Australia on an Indian tour in 2004, the visitor’s think-tank do have men who are aware of the flavours of Indian cricket.

Marcus North, George Bailey and wicketkeeper-batsman Luke Ronchi are also part of the batting mix. The bowling attack features seamer Ashley Noffke, a member of the Royal Challengers Bangalore outfit in the IPL besides Peter Siddle, left-arm seamer Douglas Bollinger, all-rounder Ryan Harris and the trio of left-arm spinner Beau Casson, leg-spinner Bryce McGain and off-spinner Jason Krejza.

“We will play three seamers and two spinners and the pitch looks good,” said Katich.

The city has experienced thunderstorms and rain over the last few days.

“We are hoping to get every minute of play possible on this pitch considering the weather factor,” said Whatmore.

The teams (from): India ‘A’: S. Badrinath (Capt.), Parthiv Patel, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Mohd. Kaif, Cheteshwar Pujara, Robin Uthappa, Piyush Chawla, S. Sreesanth, R. Vinay Kumar, S.R. Tyagi, Dhawal Kulkarni, Mohnish Parmar, Sahil Kukreja and Amit Mishra. Coach: Dav Whatmore.

Australia ‘A’: Simon Katich (Capt.), Adam Voges, George Bailey, Douglas Bollinger, Ryan Harris, Ashley Noffke, Luke Ronchi, Peter Siddle, Bryce McGain, Jason Krejza, Beau Casson, Marcus North, Peter Forrest, and Phillip Hughes. Coach: Simon Helmot.

Umpires: Shahvir Tarapore and Sadanand Vishwanath. Match referee: B. Raghunath.

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