The first of the two 4-day game between India ‘A’ and Australia ‘A’ ended in a draw. This, after Australia ‘A’ ended up scoring 161/4 at stumps on the final day chasing a target of 240. Earlier in the day, India ‘A’ started their innings with overnight batsmen Shreyas Iyer and Karun Nair looking to prolong the innings lead. Both batsmen looked in good touch constantly rotating the strike and scoring the odd boundary. The Australia ‘A’ bowlers couldn’t keep the duo under check as they went about putting up a 52-run stand for the fourth wicket. Just as Iyer and Nair looked like continuing the good work, all-rounder Marcus Stoinis got Nair out bowled for 23. Iyer followed him in the next over as he was out caught by Nic Maddinson for 33. India ‘A’ were left reeling at 169/5 with the double strike. Four runs later it was Naman Ojha who became Stoinis’ second victim. The India ‘A’ tail wagged for the next 20-odd runs, until Shankar was caught by Usman Khawaja off Stephen O’Keefe’s bowling. O’Keefe then got tail-ender Abhimanyu Mithun’s wicket with the score reading 206/8. India ‘A’ declared their innings and set Australia ‘A’ a target of 240. Australia ‘A’s run-chase began with openers Usman Khawaja and Cameron Bancroft negotiating the first ten overs without any discomfort. The pair added a 36-run opening stand until Amit Mishra got the better of Khawaja getting him caught by Karun Nair for 12. However, the India ‘A’ bowlers found the going tough after Khawaja’s dismissal with new man Travis Head and Bancroft scoring at will. Both got to their individual half centuries until medium pacer Abhimanyu Mithun was brought back into the attack to break the flourishing partnership. Mithun induced an edge off Head’s bat and got him caught behind by wicketkeeper Naman Ojha for 50. Mishra from the other end pounced on the advantage and got opener Bancroft out caught for 51. With the score reading 115/3, Australia had two new men at the crease with still 125 runs required to win. Nic Maddinson and Peter Handscomb began their damage control with Maddinson playing the role of the aggressor scoring at a brisk pace. Maddinson hit two huge sixes and later followed it up with a boundary to race to 28 off just 21 balls. Handscomb at the other end played out four overs without scoring a run until Pragyan Ojha got him caught behind for a duck. Handscomb continued to accelerate from the other end in pursuit of the target and got to an unbeaten 37. With 46 overs being bowled in their second innings and the target looking a bit farfetched in the remaining overs, the teams decided to settle for a draw.