A dogged knock of 80 from wicket-keeper batter Dhruv Jurel and a wicket apiece from Mukesh Kumar and Khaleel Ahmed helped India A fightback in opposition to Australia A on Day 1 of the second unofficial Check in Melbourne on Thursday.
Skipper Nathan McSweeney seemed snug in opposition to the opening burst of the India A pacers earlier than poking at a Mukesh supply exterior off, nicking behind. Cameron Bancroft performed out 21 balls earlier than pulling a short-length supply straight to the quick sq. leg fielder.
The host ended the day at 53 for 2 in 17.1 overs when rain introduced proceedings to an early shut with Marcus Harris remaining unbeaten on 26 with Sam Konstas giving him firm.
Earlier, India A discovered itself in an enormous bother inside the primary 16 balls of the day after being put into bat on a full of life pitch that had each swing and seam on provide for the quicks.
Michael Neser instantly struck, eradicating opener Abhimanyu Easwaran and Sai Sudharsan off successive deliveries within the first over. Neser was inches away from his hat-trick as visiting captain Ruturaj Gaikwad virtually chopped the ball onto the stumps.
Nevertheless, Gaikwad couldn’t make most of his luck as Neser ultimately received him out within the subsequent over at slips. In between, KL Rahul, despatched in to open the innings, received off the mark with a 4 down the bottom however Scott Boland discovered the surface edge, sending him again after a four-ball outing.
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Punching gloves with the rating studying 11/4, Dhruv Jurel and Devdutt Padikkal introduced the chaos below some management with a 53-run stand for the fifth wicket. Whereas there have been a number of performs and misses, the partnership additionally noticed some wonderful drives from the duo.
Padikkal fell near Lunch for 26 and Jurel discovered a companion in Nitish Kumar Reddy to maintain the scoreboard ticking. Nevertheless, a poor shot choice had Reddy caught after scoring 16, off Beau Webster, who took two extra in fast succession to scale back the customer to 119/8.
Jurel initially farmed strike as he started his partnership with quantity 10 Prasidh Krishna. Nevertheless, his confidence in his companion elevated with time, with the duo stealing fast runs and bounds at common intervals.
The wicketkeeper-batter hit 80 off 186 balls with the assistance of six fours and two sixes, together with a decide up shot off Boland over sq. leg boundary, as he took India A complete to 161.