Chandigarh, Sept. 25: Australia openers Shane Watson and Simon Katich geared up for an upcoming Test series against the number one ranked Test side — India with impressive centuries on Day One of the three-day warm-up match on Saturday.
Burly Watson scored 115 and Katich made 104 as the tourists posted 319/1 in their first innings at stumps against Board President’s XI at the Sector-16 Stadium here.
Michael Clarke was unbeaten on 43 along with skipper Ricky Ponting on 42.
Watson cracked 16 fours in his 199-ball knock before being bowled by leg-spinner Piyush Chawla, while left-handed Katich smashed 15 boundaries in a 178-ball knock before retiring.
Left-handed Katich was dropped twice by the hosts, first by Shikhar Dhawan off Jaidev Unadkat on 60 and by Ajinkya Rahane off Pragyan Ojha two runs later.
Watson and Katich did not take much time to get accustomed to the pace and bounce of the wicket and were never troubled by the Board President’s XI bowlers, except for wily left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha.
Only Ojha could pose problems for the Australian batsmen with some turn he extracted from the pitch that was slow due to heavy rains earlier in the week.
Ojha conceded just 23 runs off the 21 overs he bowled in the day.
The Australian pair weaved a partnership of 207 runs for the opening wicket — the highest on this ground in a first-class game — before Katich retired after 58 overs.
Meanwhile, Watson, who was joined by Ponting, tried to accelerate the scoring rate.
He, however, gifted his wicket while trying to play a desperate shot against Chawla.
The visitors brought up their 100 in the 33rd over, just after lunch, while they crossed the 200-run mark in the 55th over.
Australia will play two Tests, in Mohali (Oct. 1-5) and Bangalore (Oct. 9-13), and three one-day internationals in Kochi (Oct. 17), Visakhapatnam (Oct. 20) and Goa (Oct. 24).
Brief scores: Australia XI 319/1 (Shane Watson 115, Simon Katich 104 retd, Michael Clarke batting 43, Ricky Ponting batting 42; Piyush Chawla 1/120, Pragyan Ojha 0/23) vs Board President’s XI.