Khaleel Ahmed and Yashasvi Jaiswal had contrasting fortunes on Day three of the second unofficial Test between England Lions and India A.
India A took a significant lead of 184 runs on Day three of the second unofficial Test against England Lions in Northampton on Sunday. At stumps on Sunday, India A were 163/4 in their second innings, with Dhruv Jurel (6*) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (1*) unbeaten.
England had begun the day from their overnight score of 192/3 and went on to post 327, with Emilio Gay top-scoring with 71 runs.
This unofficial Test series against England Lions acts as a warm-up series for India, with a five-match Test series against England beginning from June 20. Let’s now take a look at some key highlights from the third day of the practice match in Northampton:
Uncapped pacer Khaleel Ahmed made a positive impression for India A against England Lions. The Rajasthan speedster finished with figures of 4/70 as he made a case for a potential selection in India’s playing XI.
Khaleel struck in the 51st over with the wicket of Jordan Cox (45) before striking twice in the 55th over with the dismissals of England Lions captain James Rew and Gorge Hill.
England all-rounder Chris Woakes (5) was his fourth victim with Khaleel Ahmed dismissing him in the 57th over. This was Khaleel Ahmed’s third four-wicket haul in First-Class cricket.
Khaleel Ahmed’s selection in the India playing XI for the Tests against England might not be a straightforward one due to the depth of the Indian pace attack, but it is a happy selection headache for the team management.
With Rohit Sharma having retired from Tests, Yashasvi Jaiswal will have his task cut out in the upcoming series against England. The young batter could likely open with KL Rahul for India in the Test series against England. However, the audition for Jaiswal has not gone to plan.
In the first innings of the first match, the 23-year-old scored 24 runs and had followed it up with a knock of 64 in the second innings.
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Jaiswal, however, has endured forgettable outings in Northampton with scores of 17 and five in both innings respectively. His lack of contribution could be worrying signs for India, especially with the youngster now being a vital cog in India’s top-order.
Not all is doom and gloom as far as India’s top-order is concerned. KL Rahul, who scored a fine century in the first innings of the second unofficial Test, followed it up with a half-century in the second innings.
The Karnataka wicketkeeper-batter played a confident knock of 51 runs from 64 balls, hitting nine fours in the process. There’s no doubt that KL Rahul will have a crucial role to play in the Tests against England, and one can only hope that a similar version of KL Rahul turns up when the Test series get underway on June 20 at Leeds.
Apart from Rahul, Abhimanyu Easwaran too played a confident knock of 80 runs from 92 balls, hitting 10 fours. This would come as a welcome sign for India following his scores of 8, 68 and 11 in the three innings across the two practice games prior to this.
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