Pragyan Ojha shakes Aussie top-order

On a day when the national selectors only "discussed" Pragyan Ojha as a candidate for the Sri Lanka Test tour before giving the third spinners' slot to leg-spinner Amit Mishra, the left-arm spinner picked up three of the four Australia 'A' wickets in Chennai.

On the second day of the first 'Test' at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Thursday, Ojha, who will be representing Bengal in the upcoming season, finished with 3/52 as Australia 'A', in reply to India A's first innings total of 301, reached 185/4 at stumps.

The 28-year-old with 113 wickets in 24 Tests last played for India in the Sachin Tendulkar farewell game, turning up with a man-of-the-match performance for his 10-wicket bag at the Wankhede. He has been left in wilderness as questions were raised about the legality of his action. He has since worked on his action, bowling with only half-sleeves so as to eliminate all doubts regarding his action and has proven to be effective too.

Ironically, the spinner who was preferred for the upcoming Tests in the Emerald Island, leg-spinner Amit Mishra, went wicketless but kept the pressure as Ojha took wickets at the other end. The two mainline spinners bowled 34 overs between them, Ojha going at 2.88 an over in his 18 but picked up three wickets while Mishra conceded 2.06 an over in his 16.

Ojha reduced the Aussies from 57/1 to 75/4 in the space of six overs, the left-arm spinner even taking two wickets in an over, those of rival captain Usman Khawaja and Nic Maddinson. Opener and skipper Khawaja (25) and Travis Head (31) added 50 for the second wicket before Ojha ran through the top-order. Head went as Mishra snapped him up off Ojha. All these, after speedster Abhimanyu Mithun took the first wicket in his second over, having Cameron Bancroft caught behind for 2.

However, Marcus Stoinis, who had earlier in the month slammed six sixes in an over in a domestic 50-over game in Brisbane, was batting on 42 and raised 110 for the unbroken fifth wicket with Peter Handscomb (75 batting) to stem the rot. Australia 'A' trail by 116.

Earlier, India 'A' added only 80 to their overnight 221/6 with local player Vijay Shankar staying unbeaten on 51. Australia 'A' left-arm spinner, Stephen O'Keefe. who played his lone Test against Pakistan in Dubai last year, ended with 6/82. Shankar shared 62 for the seventh wicket with Mishra (27) before the last four India 'A' wickets fell for just 18 runs.

(With PTI inputs)

Scoreboard

India 'A' (1st innings, overnight 221/6): V Shankar not out 51, A Mishra lbw b O'Keefe 27, A Mithun c Abbott b O'Keefe 0, U Yadav c Stoinis b O'Keefe 1, P Ojha c Handscomb b O'Keefe 2
Extras (NB4, B5, LB2) 11
Total (all out, 114.3 overs) 301
Fall of wickets: 6-221, (N Ojha), 7-283 (Mishra), 8-283 (Mithun), 9-289 (Yadav)
Bowling: G Sandhu 20-8-56-1, A Fekete 20-6-42-2, S Abbott 24-7-52-1, S O'Keefe 31.3-8-82-6, M Stoinis 14-4-40-0, T Head 5-1-22-0
Australia 'A' (1st innings): C Bancroft c N Ojha b Mithun 2, U Khawaja c Mukund b P Ojha 25, T Head c Mishra b P Ojha 31, P Handscomb batting 75, N Maddinson c Nair b P Ojha 0, M Stoinis batting 42
Extras (NB1, B7, LB2) 10
Total (for 4 wkts, 58 overs) 185
Fall of wickets: 1-7 (Bancroft), 2-57 (Head), 3-75 (Khawaja), 4-75 (Maddinson)
Bowling: U Yadav 8-1-34-0, A Mithun 7-2-21-1, V Shankar 6-2-18-0, P Ojha 18-1-52-3, A Mishra 16-6-33-0, K Nair 3-0-18-0