Joe Burns and Usman Khawaja lead Australia A to 334 for 4 against India A in Chennai

After Australia A won the toss and began their innings, they started sedately, picked up momentum a while into the innings, culled the bowling clinically to register the highest opening stand for ‘A’ teams in List A cricket, and ended with momentum to gather 334 runs in 50 overs against India A in Chennai. Joe Burns smashed 14 sixes in his blitzy but controlled knock of 154, and fellow opener and captain Usman Khawaja scored a rapid century to lay the base for the big total. Wickets late into the innings brought a period of relative lull, but it all disappeared as Matthew Wade effected regular boundaries towards the death to get their team nearing 350. LIVE UPDATES: India A vs Australia A, Triangular Series 2nd match at Chennai

Spinners Parvez Rasool and Karn Sharma were attacked without letting up. Most of Burns’ 14 sixes in his 131-ball knock arrived against these spinners, as he repeatedly stepped down the track to loft them deep into the leg side, or straight down the ground, for these big hits. Legpspinner Karn was hit for 58 runs off his five overs, and offspinner Rasool gave away 57 runs off his seven. Their expensive overs compelled captain Unmukt Chand to not allow them to complete their quota of ten overs.

Add Cricket Country as a Preferred Source

Dhawal Kulkarni, the right-arm seamer, was another one who was attacked heavily. Wade took a liking to him in the 49th over to smash a four and a six in consecutive deliveries, and Callum Feguson at the other end also smashed a four, as his final over spoiled his figures to have him give away 70 from his ten overs. He was the one, however, who got rid of the belligerent Burns, when he looked potent to take Australia to an insurmountable total.

The opening stand of 239 was initially dominated by Khawaja, as he stroked easy boundaries in his typically languid manner. But Burns, steady at the other end, found he was able to get to boundary-hitting positions by using his feet well against the spinners, and made the most of it Although, among them, Khawaja reached his fifty first, Burns made up to reach his hundred before his captain.  He was on 126 when Khawaja reached his three-figure milestone, before falling to Karun Nair in the 36th over.

Brief Scores:

Australia A 334 for 4 in 50 overs (Usman Khawaja 100, Joe Burns 154, Matthew Wade 34*; Karun Nair 1 for 40) vs India A