Marsh form no surprise to Patterson

Australia A batter Kurtis Patterson was not surprised to see Mitch Marsh return to form on the opening day of his side's contest against India A.

Marsh missed out in both innings of Australia A's first tour game with scores of nought and nine, but didn't make that mistake again as he finished the opening day's play in Bengaluru unbeaten on 86 in his side's total of 6-290.

The Australia A skipper made the most of an early life as he found the boundary on 13 occasions and looked at ease in Indian conditions to edge towards a century at the KSCA Cricket Ground.

"I think he is batting beautifully at the moment," Patterson said after the day's play.

"Just training with Mitch before the tour, I don't think he missed a ball out of the middle for about 10 days.

"It was almost a bit of a shock to see him miss out in the first game, but that's cricket.

"He's got himself in now and he’s got a chance, so hopefully he can go on and get a really big score tomorrow."

Patterson believes his team is well placed in the four-day contest should Marsh and Michael Neser (44 not out) be able to push on early on Sunday and setup a big first innings score.

"The first hour tomorrow, if we can stay six down and get on the plus side of 300 it could set the game up for us," he said.

"Ideally we can score close to 400 and make it really tough for them to bat later on in the game as I think it will be pretty tough to bat on at the end of day three and day four."

Patterson looked good during the majority of Australia A's first innings, but was bowled by slow left-armer Shahbaz Nadeem for 40 just before lunch on the opening day with a big score in the offing.

The 25-year-old was left disappointed he couldn't make the most of his good start and post a century, but admitted a team first focus meant winning the game was a more important factor than his own form.

"It is a little bit frustrating as it always is," Patterson said.

"I feel like I am batting nicely and having not opened that often in my career, I know that opening over here is probably one of the best places to bat.

"It's a little bit disappointing that I haven’t been able to push on...but I have been happy to be able to contribute in other smaller ways.

"I feel like a big score is not far away if I keep doing the right things, keep improving and keep chatting with the coaches."

Meanwhile, Usman Khawaja and Joel Paris (minor back injury) have returned home after being left out of the final XI of Australia A’s game.