With around 25 overs still left, the India A vs England Lions 1st unofficial match has ended. The run fest of the game saw 1385 runs scored in 312 overs and just 22 wickets fell in 4 days. Now, one can look at the result from two aspects.
First, it was a great confidence booster for India A batters and got some miles into our bowler’s legs. The second, this wasn’t great testing of batters and didn’t help bowlers at all, apart from tiring them. Both of these can be true at the same time.
Nair & Jurel make cases for 1st Test selection
But two players will be extremely happy. Karun Nair and Dhruv Jurel. Neither had a guaranteed spot in India’s starting XI against England in the first Test. Well, that may have changed now. Although the conditions weren’t that testing, they were India A’s best batters.
Both have shown the selectors that they can fill those holes in India’s XI left by Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli’s retirements. KL Rahul was already opening after Rohit didn’t play in Sydney and Yashasvi Jaiswal will be the other designated opener. Shubman Gill will decide whether he wants to bat at number three or four.
That still leaves two spots. Nair, who scored a glorious double-hundred in the first innings at Canterbury, could slot in at either place. Gill can choose his own, number three, or Kohli’s four, and the other place can be taken by Nair. He has been one of the best domestic performances and has even played in the County Championship.
For Jurel, it might be even simpler. He was unfortunately dismissed on 94 in the first innings while batting at number five and scored an unbeaten 53 in the second innings coming one down. The selectors played as a batter in Australia in the first Test, so they trust him already. And given how well he’s performed against the England Lions, it would be a shock if the number five position goes to him.
Other positives
There were other performers as well. Abhimanyu Easwaran and Yashasvi Jaiswal both scored fifties in the second innings after failures in the first. Nitish Kumar Reddy didn’t really show any good signs with the ball but his fifty in the second dig salvaged the match for him.
Shardul Thakur was one of the better bowlers. He was consistently good. The all-rounder bowled the most overs of any bowler, 28, and played a quick cameo in the first innings.
India squad for England series
Shubman Gill (c), Rishabh Pant (vc & wk), Yashasvi Jaiswal. KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav
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