“250 chases look stiff!
Taking note from the ongoing unofficial ODIs between India A and Australia A at the Cricket Association Puducherry Siechem Ground, Ashwin stated that pitches like these will “demand more from the batters”. Former India cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin praised Puducherry for producing even pitches for batters and bowlers in ODI cricket, saying surfaces like these are where ODIs should be played. “Right now! Pondicherry seems to be producing the kind of pitches ODIs should be played on,” Ashwin wrote on X. Producing pitches like these will demand more from the batters, tickle their tactical thinking and game awareness.”
The Aussies made 275 in the second unofficial game and won the match by 69 runs after bowling India A out for 206. This helped the Aussies take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series with a game to go. The story looked similar in the third match too, when India A racked up 275 in the first innings. India went on to chase 406 with relative ease against the Windies in the second ODI of the three-match series with eight wickets in hand and 39 balls to spare as the surface was pure flat for run-scoring. Captain Shubman Gill had scored an unbeaten 223, while Rohit Sharma made 101 as India chased down the second-highest score in ODI cricket, after that epic chase of 435 by South Africa against Australia in 2006. Captain Shai Hope had slammed a stellar 162 to guide the chase after Rohit Sharma (92), Ruturaj Gaikwad (57) and KL Rahul (129) guided the Men in Blue to 351/7 on a surface that was tricky in the first 10 overs but got better to bat later.
Only one hundred was hit across the five innings in the series, and that came from Aussie batter Nathan McSweeney’s bat in the first match, and five fifty-plus scores were made. This comes in the backdrop of recent run-feasts between India and the West Indies.
