Australian pacer wants to put pressure on KL Rahul amidst poor run of form

Veteran Australian seamer Scott Boland is set to turn out for Australia A against India A in the second unofficial Test match. From the Indian side, KL Rahul and Dhruv Jurel are set to play the game. it is a huge game for Rahul in particular who hasn’t been in the greatest of forms with the bat. 

Scott Boland speaking to the media ahead of the game said, “He’s a world-class player but someone I think we can get on top of pretty early and hopefully stay on top of him for the majority of the summer.”

The 35-year-old also added, “I was lucky to bowl to him in a Test over in India a couple of years ago, but it’ll be nice to play against him in our backyard. There’s so much more bounce here, more seam. The way they’ll structure their team will be completely different to what you see over in India.”

Veteran pacer looking to make his comeback to the team 

Right-arm pacer Scott Boland played a key role for Australia during the WTC Finals against India in 2023. His wicket of Virat Kohli in the second of the game sealed the deal for his side as Boland ended the game with 5 wickets. His last game for Australia came during the Ashes series that followed last year. 

Boland while speaking to the media said, “It felt like a long six months between games. Remember being out on the ground in the Shield game and was just really happy to be back playing cricket. Haven't had too many breaks for injury throughout my career so was different going through all the rehab.”

Meanwhile, the decision to send KL Rahul and Dhruv Jurel early was taken by the team management. It came with a view to help both the players get accustomed to the pace and bounce in Australia. 

Rohit Sharma was asked about this move to which India’s skipper replied, “We are travelling with a squad of 19 players and only three days were allotted to us. I don't know how much workload we can get in those three days in terms of getting everyone prepared,”

“The management feels that we'd rather have a match simulation where batters can spend more time in the middle and the bowlers can bowl a lot of balls. That is something that we, as a team, feel more comfortable doing rather than playing a practice game because game time is not a problem,” added Rohit Sharma.