Kaif and Kohli steady India after McGain strikes

India A 180 for 4 (Kaif 68*, Kohli 48*, McGain 3-51) v Australia A
Scorecard

On a truncated opening day's play Mohammad Kaif and Virat Kohli made amends for a surprisingly ordinary top-order batting display to take India A to a position of relative comfort at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore. The legspinner Bryce McGain exploited the below-par performance to pick up three wickets with his accuracy.

It was a strange day for the hosts, who chose to bat after a delayed start due to overnight rain. Perhaps it was the pressure of playing for India A - one step short of the national side - for, barring Kaif and Kohli, the batsmen were nervy and never looked in.

Kaif, the fourth-highest scorer in the last first-class season, was serene in his 68 not out. Cutting out his usual fidgety movements at the crease and leaning well into his drives, he timed the ball sweetly. He started off with an off drive and a caressed extra-cover drive off Doug Bollinger before punching Ashley Noffke through point. His defence was tight, his judgment of the off stump precise and he looked comfortable against the spinners as well.

He hammered McGain through mid-off and lofted him over long-on for his first six before pulling him to the midwicket boundary. He repeatedly hit through the gaps and rotated the strike well. For the past few months, and especially in the last few weeks at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore, he has been working on his left-shoulder position to help his driving through the off side and those efforts showed today.

Kohli complemented him well with attractive shots around the ground, especially against the spinners, and was unbeaten on 48. He square-drove and pulled Marcus North, the irregular offspinner, and pulled and cover-drove McGain, who troubled him briefly. Immediately after that cover drive, with a short extra-cover in place, McGain induced Kohli to mistime a couple of drives, once nearly getting a leading edge to carry to that fielder. But without the guile of flight or big turn, at least for today, he couldn't pull off his plan. Kohli grew in confidence and by the end was looking pretty solid. For someone who likes to play his shots, he also showcased pretty tight defence.

The unlikely hero of the day, however, was McGain. His is an interesting story of will and hope. An IT worker in a bank who turned professional cricketer at the age of 35, he grabbed the opportunity today. Eight short steps, a tiny jog before he flicked his legbreaks quickly and accurately in a flatter trajectory. Though his bowling wasn't very threatening he picked up his three wickets with the change in length. After Parthiv Patel swept him through midwicket, he ripped one fuller to trap him in front and then sensing S Badrinath, who took 33 balls - edging and missing - to move from 1 to 2, might try to break free against him, he fired one full to beat the bottom-handed swipe across the line. McGain saw Robin Uthappa being reprieved off a full delivery before he dropped one slightly short to get him caught by the same fielder, the very next ball.

The seamers were largely ineffectual on a flat track, especially the new-ball bowlers - Bollinger and Noffke - who were guilty of bowling slightly short. Bollinger got Ajinkya Rahane's wicket after the opener had an ugly flash at a short-of-length delivery outside off. Peter Siddle was the pick of the medium-pacers, hitting the good length and generally keeping it around the off stump. With Beau Casson, the chinaman bowler, bowling just one over because of a hamstring problem, the day belonged to the former IT worker.