Looking at how the pitch had played until the second day in the ongoing unofficial Test between India A and England Lions, there wasn’t much hope, that the visitors could produce something special with the ball. Lions started the third morning with 192/3 and the general expectation would have been, that the team would cross India A’s 348 rather easily, with James Rew and Jordan Cox at the crease.
Khaleel Ahmed, KL Rahul Put IND A in Command
But thein pacer Khaleel Ahmed had different plans, as he bowled with a lot of zip and removed the two set batters in quick succession. He brought his team back in the match, as he got rid of George Hill on the first delivery itself. That meant, in a span of two overs, the left-arm pacer had four wickets to his name..
The hosts eventually were bundled out, handing IND A a slender lead. But that wasn’t without a bit of a drama. Despite being reduced to 243/8, Lions went on to score 327, with the last two wickets adding 79. Eventually, the A team had a lead of 21.
Lead Grows to 184
Come the second innings for India, they had a poor start, with Yashasvi Jaiswal getting out early for 5. From there on, centurion in the first innings, KL Rahul took matters in his own hands, and smashed a brilliant 51 from 64. Skipper Abhimanyu Easwaran too looked in fluent touch and scored an 80. Unfortunately, Karun Nair departed early for 15.
The day’s play ended with IND A in commanding position at 163/4, with an overall lead of 184. That said, the team would look to give Lions a target of 250, and challenge their own bowlers, to pick up those 10 wickets.
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