By IANS
Canberra : Opener Wasim Jaffer, a failure in the first two Tests, scored a gritty 92 at the Manuka Oval as Indians declared their first inning at 325 for nine against Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Invitational XI on the opening day of the three-day practice match here Thursday.
At the close of play, ACT were 10 for no loss with Chris Rogers batting on two and Ed Cowan at eight.
Barring Jaffer and Rahul Dravid (62), none of the Indian batsmen utilised the opportunity to stake a claim for a Perth Test place on a batsman-friendly pitch.
Virender Sehwag (24) struggled before falling to a sensational catch while Dinesh Karthik (25) threw his wicket away. Yuvraj Singh’s woeful form continued as he managed just two runs.
India’s poor start in both the Melbourne and Sydney Tests forced the team management to look for alternatives for the third Test. But Sehwag and Karthik, the two contenders, failed to grab the chance. Instead, Jaffer battled back into form and Dravid looked solid.
Jaffer, who had scored just 22 runs in four Test innings, was edgy at the start and along with Sehwag took some time to come to terms with a wayward attack and a sluggish outfield.
Jaffer soon settled down and got to his 50 with a six off seamer Richard Sherlock. He fell when a hundred was his for the asking, charging left-arm spinner Mark Higgs to be holed out to long on.
Sehwag too took some time to find his feet and was lucky to get a life on seven. He managed only one four in his 49-ball innings before slashing wildly to be caught by captain Higgs, who flung to his right to pluck a sensational one-handed catch.
Karthik, who kept wickets later in the day, cracked some good shots during his 25 off 39 balls but his pull off seamer Luke Swards failed to clear mid-on.
Dravid didn’t have much of a problem reaching 62. He was particularly severe on leg spinner Ryan Bulger’s predictable flight. His best shot was the one that took him to 50, pulling Perera in front of square standing upright.
The tail perished quickly in search of quick runs. Mahendra Singh Dhoni declared the innings, leaving the hosts to bat for four overs.