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In IND A vs AUS A, 1st day of the Test match, Abhimanyu Easwaran and Nitish Reddy, who were included in the Indian Test team for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, were also disappointed with their performance
On the first day of the second unofficial Test match against Australia A, India A batsmen looked helpless against Australian bowler Michael Neeser (four wickets), and their innings was reduced to just 161 runs in 57.1 overs. Except for wicketkeeper-batsman Dhruv Jurel, all the players disappointed who are contenders for a place in the Indian XI for the first Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test to be played in Perth.
Search of opener in IND A vs AUS A, due to the absence of Rohit Sharma
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Indian captain Rohit Sharma may be absent in the first Test due to personal reasons, so the Indian team management is looking for an opening partner for Yashasvi Jaiswal. Keeping this in mind, KL Rahul was already sent to Australia for this match and he opened in this match.
However, he got caught behind the wicket in an attempt to block a moving full ball from Scott Boland in the second over of the match and was out after scoring just four runs. Rahul could play only one match in the series against New Zealand and was dropped from the team due to poor form. The experiment of making Rahul open failed in the first innings, which will definitely be a matter of concern for the Indian team management.
Another opener contender to replace Rohit Sharma, Abhimanyu Easwaran, has also disappointed so far on the Australia A tour. Abhimanyu, who is coming after scoring four centuries in four consecutive matches in India’s domestic season, could not play Neeser’s bouncing short off-length ball on the third ball of the innings and got caught in the gully on a score of zero.
Abhimanyu’s performance was not very special in the first IND A vs AUS A unofficial Test as well and he returned to the pavilion on scores of 7 and 12. There Abhimanyu looked helpless on the good length balls going outside the channel of off stump.
On the fast pitch of Perth, it is possible that the Indian team will go with three fast bowlers as well as a fast-bowling all-rounder. Shardul Thakur has been shouldering this responsibility in the last few years in away Test matches, but this time the selectors have given a chance to young Nitish Kumar Reddy.
However, Reddy has also not been able to do anything special in this series against Australia A so far. In the last match, Reddy scored 0 and 17, while he got only one wicket after bowling in both innings. He was troubled by the bouncy short-pitch balls at Mackay.
However, in the second unofficial Test of IND A vs AUS A in Melbourne, he lost his wicket by playing a very strange shot. When he came to bat, the Indian team was struggling at 64 runs for 5 wickets. Reddy (16) tried to revive the Indian innings by sharing 39 runs for the sixth wicket with Jurel, but just when he seemed to be settling in, he sauntered to a good length delivery from Bo Webster and was caught behind.
However, Jurel, who joined the team just two days ago for the IND A vs AUS A test series, has certainly given a ray of hope by scoring 80 runs. Amidst the continuous fall of wickets, he held one end and took India A past 100 and then 150. Jurel’s restrained innings of 186 balls included 6 excellent fours and 2 sixes and he was dismissed as the ninth wicket.
Given the excellent form of Rishabh Pant, it seems very difficult for Jurel to be included in the Indian XI as a wicketkeeper, but with this innings, he has staked a claim to be included in the team as a pure batsman. Given the poor form of Rahul, Easwaran, and Sarfraz Khan, this possibility in the middle order cannot be ruled out although India would still be looking for an alternative to Rohit as an opener.
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