The inclusion of experienced players K.L. Rahul and wicket-keeper Dhruv Jurel has been announced for the India A team for the second four-day match against Australia A which will commence on Thursday at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). IANS had informed on the previous day that there were plans for Rahul and Jurel to join the India A contingent after travelling to Melbourne post the third Test against New Zealand, which in turned saw the team led by Rohit Sharma suffer a historic 3-0 loss.
The sources had also stated that it was decided to send Rahul and Jurel to the India A team for their match so that they may have enough match practice just before the crucial Border-Gavaskar Trophy series which begins in Perth on November 22. It is also said that in addition to Abhimanyu Easwaran, they are hoping that Rahul will be able to perform well enough to partner with Yashasvi Jaiswal in the Test in Perth.
The top order has a vacant position mainly because captain Rohit Sharma announced at the end of the Test in Mumbai that he may not be available for the opening match of the series in Perth because of some personal issues.
Easwaran has hit 27 hundreds from 100 first-class matches that he has played, boasting an impressive average of 49.40. On the other hand, Rahul who has been batting predominantly in the middle order recently has the advantage of having made Test hundreds in England, South Africa, and Australia where he made his Test debut back in the year 2014.
Rahul had participated in three Tests during the Indian home season. The last of which was a match lost by the hosts against New Zealand in the 1st Test series at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. After scoring 0 and 12 in that match which India lost by 8 wickets, he was not part of the subsequent matches of that series.
Alternatively, Jurel may well assume the responsibilities of wicketkeeper from Ishan Kishan, who is captaining India A. However, Jurel did not play in any of the five home Tests that India hosted, although he did appear in the first Test at Bengaluru as a substitute wicketkeeper after Rishabh Pant injured his knee.
Earlier, Prasidh Krishna was roped in as a replacement for Yash Dayal in the India A team, as the latter was scheduled to tour South Africa for T20 Internationals starting November 8 with the Indian team.
The first of the four-day games recorded a heavy seven-wicket loss for India A led by Ruturaj Gaikwad at the Great Barrier Reef Arena located in Mackay Qld, with B. Sai Sudharsan, Devdutt Padikkal and fast bowler Mukesh Kumar being the notable contributors to the match.
India A squad for 2nd first-class game: Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Abhimanyu Easwaran (vc), Sai Sudharsan, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Devdutt Padikkal, Ricky Bhui, Baba Indrajith, Ishan Kishan (wk), Abishek Porel (wk), Mukesh Kumar, Khaleel Ahmed, Navdeep Saini, Manav Suthar, Tanush Kotian, Prasidh Krishna, KL Rahul, Dhruv Jurel (wk)
