12:38 PM IST and 6:08 PM Local Time: Another cracking performance from Australia A as they hammer India A by 6 wickets with a day remaining in this second and final Four-Day Game of the series to complete the whitewash!
India A made a comeback but eventually didn't have enough runs to deal with in both matches and ended up on the losing side.
Michael Neser (4/27), Scott Boland (1/51), Beau Webster (3/19), Nathan McSweeney (1/5) and Corey Rocchiccioli (1/21) were all over the visitors and bundled them for 161 in 57.1 overs after opting to bowl first on a spicy MCG pitch. Neser, in particular, was on top of his game and was on a hat-trick in the very first over of the fixture, but he was later ruled out of the match after injuring his left hamstring.
India A were reduced to 4/11 at one stage, but a fighting half-century from Dhruv Jurel (80 off 186) got them to a respectable score.
Australia A rode on Marcus Harris' 74, Jimmy Peirson's 30, and useful contributions from Nathan McAndrew (26*) and Rocchiccioli (35) to get well past India A's first-innings total before getting all out for 223 in 62.1 overs.
Prasidh Krishna (4/50), Mukesh Kumar (3/41) and Khaleel Ahmed (2/56) shared all the wickets to fall from India A's perspective.
Though the tourists didn't have to deal with the threat of Neser in their second innings, the top-order batters failed to get around and score runs. Another collapse in the series meant it was Jurel (68 off 122) again coming to the rescue, scoring his second fifty of the fixture. He got good support from Nitish Kumar Reddy (38 off 81) as the two rebuilt to get past the lead.
India A's tail - Tanush Kotian (44 off 84) and Krishna (29 off 43) - wagged at an important point and gave themselves something to bowl at before being folded for 229 in 77.5 overs.
Rocchiccioli (4/74), Webster (3/49), McAndrew (2/53) and McSweeney (1/12) were the heroes of the home side's bowling in the third innings of the game.
Krishna bowled a brilliant first over, dismissing Harris and Cameron Bancroft in successive deliveries for golden ducks to make things interesting, defending 168. The Australia A skipper and Sam Konstas fought hard but the former got a jaffa from Mukesh after Tea.
Konstas continued his normal game and was a bit itchy at the crease following McSweeney's dismissal. Oliver Davies was on the move but fell to his own trap off Kotian as he exposed the stumps and got cleaned up.
At 73/4, the hearts would have been beating hard in the Australian A dressing room, but Konstas (73* off 128) and Webster (46* off 66) ensured no further hiccups in the run chase, with an unbeaten 96-run stand. The former hit a well-compiled half-century, while the latter made sure that the game was done and dusted on Day 3 itself.