Opening salvo suggests speed rather than spin

Scorecard: Cricket Australia XI v Indians

In eras gone past, the arrival of an Indian touring team in Australia would have meant a four-day warm-up game against one of the local State teams in which the visitors' star-laden batting line-up would have piled on runs and their spinners bowled a bulk of the overs.

But in an age when cricket's host nations are more likely to give away details of rival side's dietary demands than replicate a Test match environment, there was no more potent illustration of how times have changed than India's bowling card.

The fact that seven of the 10 wickets that Cricket Australia's XI (comprising some of the nation's brightest young development players) lost for 219 in the course of 72 overs fell to pace bowlers suggests the pre-tour hype that India will rely more heavily on speed than spin might indeed carry merit.

That would seem even more plausible given the current spearhead of the tourists' Test attack, Ishant Sharma, was rested from the first of India's pair of two-day preparation matches played at Gliderol Stadium in the Adelaide coastal suburb of Glenelg.

Not that the traditional strength of India's cricket at home and away – their spin bowlers – were without influence on a pitch that offered true bounce, good pace and occasional movement true to its greenish hue.

Frontline off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and uncapped leg-spinner Karn Sharma sent down more than a third of India's total overs between them and shared three wickets, with Ashwin claiming the CA XI's key wicket of New South Wales opener Ryan Carters who top-scored with 58.

Even if it was the result of a delicate leg-side tickle that doesn't often feature in the textbook of off-spinners' dismissals.

But it was the genuine pace and preparedness to bounce shown by tearaway quick Varun Aaron that emerged as the day's talking point as the blustery sou-westerly sea breeze pushed through some heavy cloud cover before India's batsmen took to the crease in bright afternoon sunshine.

Aaron is something of a curiosity, not only because he hails from India's second-youngest state Jharkhand (also the birthplace of injured skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni when it was part of Bihar) or that he grew up idolising legendary West Indies fast bowler Andy Roberts.

It is mainly because he has been clocked bowling in excess of 150kph which is a rarity for a nation that is renowned for producing a ready supply of steady seamers but not too many fearsome fast men.

The 25-year-old arrived in Australia with a reputation as a firebrand and his return of 3-72 against the Cricket Australia XI today did little to quell that talk.

His figures would have been better if Ashwin had been in sharp catching form at first slip, but Aaron showed he was not frightened at dishing up some of the sort of 'chin music' that India's batsmen will be expecting from their hosts' come the four-match Test series.

Carters, used to facing the new ball against the current crop of Australian quicks, said Aaron's pace had cause problems for the inexperienced CA XI.

"I knew he was going to be pretty quick from having faced him a few years ago and he certainly followed through with that," Carters said at the end of the first day's play which India finished at 1-55 having lost opener Shikar Dhawan caught in the slips for 10.

"He bowled some pretty quick bumpers and did a little bit of damage to our middle-order but I thought at times we played him well.

"He was hitting the bat hard and he definitely made us fight for our runs."

Asked if Aaron, who is vying for a bowling berth in the first Test XI with Mohammed Shami (2-52) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (2-32) who also played today, might prove a handful on the traditional fast bowler friendly pitch at the Gabba where the series opener will be staged, Carters had little doubt.

"On a fast wicket he will definitely be a handful if he plays, you could definitely expect some short stuff," he said.

"He would (comparatively) be one of the quicker bowlers around Australia, and this wicket was good for the quicks, it certainly had some pace when they bowled short it was coming through well so the bouncers were pretty challenging.

"But the Aussie (Test) guys do like bouncy wickets so I think, in some ways, they'll enjoy that."

While there was some understandable rustiness among the tourists bowling and fielding in the first hour or so given they arrived in Australia barely 48 hours earlier, they sharpened as the day wore on with Dhoni's stand-in gloveman Wriddhiman Saha especially impressive.

But the CA XI boasted an understudy 'keeper of their own who made his presence felt with teenager Harry Nielsen posting the team's second-top score, an unbeaten 43 from 40 balls (in an entertaining last wicket stand of 52) after he was called into the XI at the last minute.

The son of former Australia coach and South Australian wicketkeeper Tim Nielsen answered an SOS from team management when first-choice 'keeper Sebastian Gotch was laid low by a virus.

"I'm sure he (Nielsen) will be smiling of what became of his day having woken up expecting to go to work and not playing against India," Carters said

"He performed really well with the bat and then did a nice job with the gloves at the end too."

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