Jon Holland, Michael Neser make case for Test selection

Holland, the left-arm spinner, toiled for just under 30 overs, taking three wickets while Neser utilised reverse swing to take four wickets, keeping India down to a manageable total.

Australia A had been blown away for just 243 in their first innings, courtesy Mohammed Siraj's career-best figures of 8/59. But having bowled the hosts out for 274 after that, Australia are well and truly alive in the contest. They then got to 42/1 in the second innings before close of play.

Holland, who played two Tests for Australia in 2016, was crucial to the effort. He not only held one end up and kept the pressure on, but also chipped in with crucial wickets of Ravikumar Samarth, Srikar Bharat and Krishnappa Gowtham.

The effort puts the Victoria spinner back in contention for a potential Test recall for the series against Pakistan in United Arab Emirates later this year to complement Australia's primary spinning option in Nathan Lyon.

But Holland tried not to look to far ahead. "Mitch (Marsh) backed me in as the captain and I pretty much just sat at one end for most of the day," he said.

"It was good to get a lot of bowling under my belt so, hopefully, I can read the conditions well on day four and take some more wickets.

"Everyone knows there's opportunities at the moment at the next level. Everyone's worked really hard in the off season to push hard for this tour and do really well and see what happens after that."

As for the quicks, it was Neser that waded into the strong India A batting line-up, taking 4/61 including the big scalps of Mayank Agarwal and Shreyas Iyer.

The right-arm seamer got a hint of reverse swing that troubled the batsmen – there might be some openings in the pace department since Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood have been ruled out with injury.

The secret to Neser succeeding was that he bowled a nagging line and waited for the mistakes. "We spoke about it before the match that we just had to be patient and bowl in the right areas and bash a good length," Holland said.

"All the quicks did it and Michael was the one who came away with the wickets. I thought he bowled really well and he's been bowling well for a long period of time so it's good to see him get some rewards."