KL Rahul was seen donning the opener’s cap for India A in the second unofficial Test against Australia A that commenced at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Thursday, November 7. The right-handed batter who was added to the India A squad on Wednesday for the second match, managed to score only four runs from the four balls he faced before being caught out by the Australia A wicket keeper Jimmy Peirson, bowled Scott Boland.
Rahul was also the third India A batter, to be dismissed, during the morning session of the first day’s play. The first batter to go back to the pavilion was Bengal batter Abhimanyu Easwaran, who is part of India’s 18-member team for the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy series. All he could manage was a duck, facing three balls, before Michael Nesser got hold of him. On the third ball of the first over, Corey Rocchiccioli took the catch of Easwaran, and on the next ball of the same over, Sai Sudharsan was dismissed, bowled by Nesser
Cameron Bancroft made no mistake and caught the left-handed batter, Kemar More, without a run on the scoreboard. Sudharsan had become a massive concern for India A as he had struck a ton in the second innings of the first unofficial Test match held in Mackay last week before the end of play.
Nesser came back to find the captain of India A, Ruturaj Gaikwad, on the fourth ball of his second over, at which point Nesser had already picked up two wickets. Gaikwad advanced to four runs from six balls before he too was caught by Bancroft.
Rahul was brought in to the India A side in order to get some match fitness before the first Test of the five-match series between India and a touring Australia, however his performance was below par. Also featuring for India A besides Rahul is wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel who came in to bat at the nd inning score of 15 runs in 15 overs after facing 44 balls.
After the opening match where Indian A team lost to their rivals by a seven-wicket margin, Ishan Kishan was benched after failing to score enough runs, Jurel was called up and took his place in the playing XI.
Jurel is unlikely to figure in the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy but Rahul is likely to open the batting in Perth as Rohit Sharma is set to miss the match for personal reasons.
