Hanuma Vihari's promotion to No.4 fails, inexplicable leave gets him bowled on 15: WATCH

In the absence of Virat Kohli, his Test deputy Ajinkya Rahane won the toss and opted to bat first in the second three-day warm-up game against Australia A on Friday, December 11. While the visitors enjoyed a solid start, reaching 72-1 on the back of some counter-attacking batting from Prithvi Shaw and Shubman Gill, their innings immediately lost track with six wickets in quick succession. Indian all-rounder Hanuma Vihari, who usually bats lower down the order, was promoted to bat at No.4 by the team management in an unsuccessful experiment.

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Australia A vs India live updates: Hanuma Vihari gets castled cheaply after batting promotion

Hanuma Vihari arrived to the crease at 72-2, after young opener Prithvi Shaw lost his wicket to Australia A pacer Will Sutherland. Vihari batted cautiously and took his own time to settle in but to no avail. He faced 39 deliveries in all as a bizarre leave to an in-swinging delivery by Jack Wildermuth accounted for his downfall out in the middle. He scored 15 runs and struck two boundaries during his hour-long stay at the crease.

Here is a look at Hanuma Vihari’s untimely dismissal on Day 1 from the ongoing Australia A vs India warm-up game.

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Australia A vs India live updates: India lose five wickets in the space of nine runs

At the time of publishing, the Indian batsmen reached 111-7 after 31.3 overs. Interestingly, they were once comfortably placed at 102-2 before Hanuma Vihar’s dismissal triggered a massive batting collapse. Indian fast bowler Navdeep Saini was just joined at the crease by fellow pacer Mohammad Shami.

For further Australia A vs India live updates, tune into the Sony SIX SD and HD channels. Fans can also tune into the SonyLIV app and website for live streaming. For live scores, one can visit the official social media pages of BCCI and Cricket Australia.

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A look into India vs Australia 2020 squad

Indian captain Virat Kohli will be returning home after the conclusion of the opening India vs Australia pink ball Test. Here is a look at entire India vs Australia 2020 squad for the Test series.

India Test squad: Virat Kohli (c) (first Test only), Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Hanuma Vihari, Shubman Gill, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin and Mohammed Siraj.

Australia Test squad: Tim Paine (c), Sean Abbott, Joe Burns, Pat Cummins, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, James Pattinson, Will Pucovski, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, Matthew Wade and David Warner.

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Image source: cricket.com.au