Jon Holland spins Australia A to 98-run win

Having resumed the day at 63/2 in their chase of 262 on the fourth day on Wednesday, 5 September, India lost wickets frequently to be shot out for 163 despite Mayank Agarwal's determined 80.

The first to fall was Ankit Bawne for 25, an addition of 19 runs to his overnight tally, when Holland found a way to hit his stumps. Ravikumar Samarth was soon caught by Travis Head off his own bowling for eight, leaving India at 124/4.

With Srikar Bharat and Krishnappa Gowtham falling for ducks, the scoreboard read 126/6 and Australia were well on top. Through the chaos at the other end, Agarwal, who had resumed the day at 25, batted brilliantly to go past his half-century.

He tried to farm the strike later but that didn't stop the visitors from getting the batsmen out at the other end. Finally, Agarwal himself succumbed to the pressure and spooned a catch back to Holland, to become his fifth victim of the innings.

Holland was by far the most successful bowler, the left-arm spinner toiling 24.3 overs for his six second innings wickets. Throw in his three first-innings wickets and it was Holland's best match returns in red-ball cricket, surpassing his previous best of 8/68.

"I probably wasn't bowling as well as I would have like early on, I knew that the way the wicket was playing if I just stayed in the game and got some overs under my belt, sometthing would change. It was about building the pressure, stopping the boundaries and bowling a lot of balls at them," Holland told Cricket Australia after the match.

He also heaped praise on the fast bowlers. "I think the quicks did an excellent job on a flat wicket. They bowled short balls, (batsmen) looked uncomfortable against the short ball, not knowing whether it would rise up or stay low, so they had to play at it. They created chances and took a few wickets as well."

The efforts helped Australia completed a brilliant comeback victory after Mohammed Siraj's career-best fiures of 8/59 had blown them away for just 243 in the first innings.

After keeping India to just 274, Australia played very responsibly on a wearing surface in their second innings to score 292, thanks largely to Head's fighting 87 and meaty lower middle-order contributions, setting India a difficult fourth-innings target.