KL Rahul flops yet again, Dhruv Jurel wages lone battle during game against Australia A

India A began their second unofficial Test match against Australia on Thursday at the iconic Melbourne cricket ground. KL Rahul who has been out of form with the bat was sent to play the game along with Dhruv Jurel. The 32-year-old came out to open the batting along with Abhimanyu Eeswaran. 

Scott Boland had earlier stated that he would want to pressure the underfire batter. It was veteran Boland who dismissed KL Rahul for four runs as he was caught behind by Jimmy Pierson. Abhimanyu Eeswaran was in the third ball of the game when he fell to Michael Neser without getting off the mark. 

The visiting side were bowled out for 161 in the 58th over as Michael Neser picked 4/27. Beau Webster picked 3/19 from his 9 overs. It was Australia A who won the toss and chose to bowl first. Both sides made changes as Ishan Kishan made way for Dhruv Jurel. 

Worrying signs for Indian stars ahead of Australia series 

After the early fall of Eeswaran and KL Rahul, the visiting side lost the wickets of Sai Sudharsan (0) and Ruturaj Gaikwad (4). At that stage, India A were placed at 11/4 in the 3rd over of the game. 

Devdutt Padikkal and Dhruv Jurel added 53 runs for the 5th wicket in over 21 overs of batting. That stand was broken when Neser dismissed Padikkal for 26. Nitish Reddy scored 16 runs before he holed to Beau Webster. 

Dhruv Jurel and Prasidh Krishna added 36 runs for the 9th wicket and the team went into tea at 152/8. Post the break India were all out for 161 as Jurel fell for 80 runs to McSweeney. The youngster scored his runs off 186 balls with the help of six boundaries and 2 sixes. 

The twin failures of KL Rahul and Abimanyu Eeswaran will worry India’s team management. Rohit Sharma is set to miss the Perth Test due to the impending birth of his second child. While Rahul has opened in the past, his current form has been abysmal. Eeswaran, on the other hand, was preferred over Ruturaj Gaikwad for Australia. 

The veteran batter from Bengal was in good run-scoring form during the domestic matches prior to the Australia A matches. With the five-match series set to start in two weeks, Gautam Gambhir, Rohit Sharma, and Ajit Agarkar have a lot to ponder.