India A suffered a heavy defeat on the opening day of the second unofficial Test against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Thursday.
After India A put in the batting, Australia Test pair Michael Neser and Scott Boland reached the top of the order within 16 balls. KL Rahul, who recently retired from India’s second and third Tests in New Zealand, joined the India A team for a few matches earlier this week.
While Rahul is listed as mid-order, skipper Rohit Sharma is likely to miss the inaugural Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test in Perth, meaning the Karnataka batsman is promoted to the starting spot , ahead of India A captain Ruturaj Gaikwad.
Rahul was lured forward by Bolan, who dropped the outside edge to the wicketkeeper before falling for four. Bolan had earlier tagged Rahul as one of the Indian batsmen to target this summer. “I was lucky enough to bowl to him in a Test in India a few years ago, but it will be great to play against him in our backyard. He’s a world-class player but I think we can get past him early on and Hopefully that will keep him at the top for most of the summer,” Bolan was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo before the game.
Competing with Rahul for the starting spot in the Perth Test was Abhimanyu Easwaran, who was bowled by Neser’s three-ball duck in the opening over. Nessel was on the verge of a hat-trick when he bowled Sai Sudharsan off the first ball and nearly dismissed Ruturaj Gaikwad on the next delivery.
Jurel turns fifty
While Devdutt Padikkal and Dhruv Jurel put India through lunch, the former got through to Neser early in the second session He fell for the fourth wicket. Only goalkeeper Jurel, who replaced Ishan Kishan in the eleven, stood tall in the testing seam and bounced off Australia A’s fast break.
India were reduced to 103 for seven before Jurrell, playing his first first-class innings in Australia, completed a half-century off 118 deliveries with six runs.
