At the end of the first day’s play at the MCG, Australia A trail India A by 108 runs. They have eight wickets in hand.
The India A top order caved in for the second time on their tour of Australia in three attempts. In the second unofficial “Test”, at Melbourne, Dhruv Jurel helped them recover from the early damages caused by Michael Neser, but 161 was all they could manage. At stumps on day one, Australia A were 53-2.
At Mackay, India A were bowled out for 107 in the first innings. That they managed to do better this time is largely due to Jurel’s 80. Coming out at 11-4, he played some authoritative shots to give his bowlers something to defend.
Also read: Should India start with Dhruv Jurel as a specialist bat in the Perth Test?
Initially not part of the India A squad, Jurel joined them after staying in the reserves for all five Test matches across the two series at home, against Bangladesh and New Zealand.
Like Jurel, KL Rahul also flew out for the second “Test”. With Rohit Sharma uncertain for the first Test against Australia, the team management tried out Rahul and Abhimanyu Easwaran, both part of the Test squad, as openers. While Easwaran fell third ball for a duck, Rahul made four. After making a hundred in the first game, Sai Sudharsan fell first ball here, to Neser.
Interestingly, when Shubman Gill missed the Bengaluru Test against New Zealand, India could have used Rahul, a bona-fide Test opener, at one-drop. Instead, Virat Kohli batted at that position. After the day’s play, the Indian team management confirmed that they wanted Rahul to bat at six. It seems like they do not mind being more flexible than they were two Tests ago.
For Australia A, Neser claimed 4-27 before leaving the ground with an injury, while Tasmanian all-rounder Beau Webster claimed 3-19.
Australia themselves have to pick Usman Khawaja’s opening partner. Australia A captain Nathan McSweeney seemed to have left his rivals behind when he top-scored in both innings in the first “Test”, but that was from No.4. Opening the batting, he fell to Mukesh Kumar for 14 today, while Khaleel Ahmed claimed Cameron Bancroft for three.
Marcus Harris and Sam Konstas, the other two candidates in this four-way race, will resume batting tomorrow.
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