India A began on a strong note in response to Australia A’s mammoth total of 532/6 declared in the first unofficial Test underway in Lucknow’s Ekana Stadium. After Australia’s top-order dominated the proceedings on the opening day, their lower middle-order put up another dominant show with wicketkeeper Josh Phillippe scoring an unbeaten 123 off just 87 deliveries as India A attack struggled to penetrate. In response, India A openers Abhimanyu Easwaran and N Jagadeesan put on an 88-run stand for the first wicket before the Bengal batsman was dismissed for 44. Jagadeesan was unbeaten on 50 with his statemate B Sai Sudharsan giving him company on 20 as India A reached 116 for 1 at stumps.
While India A’s batting line-up has responded in a strong fashion, the performance of its bowlers will definitely be a worrying sign, particularly at a time when the national team’s pace bowling arsenal is thin on options.
Prasidh Krishna, who was part of India’s tour to England, endured another long outing in the field as his 16 overs went for 86 runs at an economy rate of 5.37. On Day 1, when Australia openers Sam Konstas and Campbell Kellaway gave a brisk start, Prasidh was at the receiving end. Even fellow seamer, the left-arm Khaleel Ahmed wasn’t spared as he went for 80 runs in his 15 overs and had the lone wicket of Oliver Peake to show. Apart from Punjab seamer Gurnoor Brar who conceded 87 in 19 overs and accounted for the wicket of Kellaway and Liam Scott, the pace pack failed to cause any damage.
The story was not so different for the spinners, in particular Mumbai’s Tanush Kotian. The tall off-spinner, who was part of the India’s Test squad in Australia, went wicketless in his 21 overs as he conceded 119 runs at an economy of 5.66. Despite being an integral part of the Mumbai squad, the off-spinner still remains a work in progress and far from taking over the spot left vacant by R Ashwin. During the last domestic season he had 36 wickets to show at an average of 22.91, which was his best so far. Apart from making handy contributions with the bat, Kotian even struggled in the Duleep Trophy outing, where he went for 1/130 in West Zone’s semi-final defeat to Central Zone earlier this month. With Tamil Nadu’s R Sai Kishore injured, the selectors had named Kotian and Vidarbha’s Harsh Dubey alongside the highly-rated Manav Suthar who is warming the bench here.
After Australia openers put on 198 for the first wicket, it was left-arm spinner Dubey who caused a slight wobble accounting for captain Nathan McSweeney and Konstas. He also removed the well set Cooper Connolly (70) towards the end of the Day 1.
Day three will provide a stern test for India’s strong batting line-up. Although India seemed to have identified the make-up of their batting core in England, that the likes of Sai Sudharsan and Karun Nair haven’t sealed their spot gives space for others in contention. After being left out of the Duleep Trophy squad by the South Zone selectors, Sai Sudharsan has an opportunity to send a strong reminder that he is here to stay.
Easwaran, who has been perennially warming the bench, would rue the big opportunity he has missed as his 44 is unlikely to change the perception around him.
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Apart from Jagadeesan and Sai Sudharsan, India A have Shreyas Iyer, Devdutt Padikkal and Dhruv Jurel in their ranks. Apart from off-spinner Todd Murphy who was part of the Australian national set-up when they played a Test series on Indian soil in 2023, only seamer Xavier Bartlett has an international cap.
Brief scores: Australia A 532 for 6 dec (J Philippe 123 n.o, S Konstas 109; H Dubey 3/141) vs India A 116/1 (N Jagadeesan 50 n.o).
