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.
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.
Following the early hiccup, opening batter Sam Konstas joined hands with Jack Clayton and launched recovery.
The duo added 109 runs to the total until Harshit Rana dismissed Clayton, who scored an anchoring 40 off 52 deliveries.
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.
But Konstas remained firm and put together a fighting 67-run partnership with Hanno Jacobs before finally perishing in the 38th over.
He top-scored for PM XI with a gritty 107 off 97 deliveries, studded with 14 fours and a six.
Despite ending up on the losing side, Konstas was adjudged the player of the match for his fighting century.
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.
He scored 61 off 60 balls with the help of four fours and two sixes.
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.
In response, India comfortably chased down the total for the loss of just five wickets, courtesy of Shubman Gill’s half-century.
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.
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.
For PM XI, Anderson took two wickets, while Lloyd Pope, Matt Renshaw and Clayton shared three between them.
