England Lions vs India A, 1st Unofficial Test: Karun Nair, Sarfaraz Khan, and Dhruv Jurel shine on Day 1 for India.
Brief Scores: India A 409/3 (Karun Nair 186*, Sarfaraz Khan 92, Josh Hull 2/51) against England Lions at Stumps on Day 1.
India A dominated the opening day of the first unofficial Test against England Lions with 409/3 at the St Lawrence Ground in Canterbury. The first hour was challenging against the new ball under grey skies as the home bowlers maintained a fine line and length. However, once the sun came out in the afternoon session, conditions got better for batting.
A few batters, including Yashasvi Jaiswal, Karun Nair, and Dhruv Jurel, came into the series from the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025. For them, it was important to adjust against the red cherry in England’s chilly weather. For others, it was an admission for probable replacements into the main squad if required.
Yashasvi Jaiswal, Abhimanyu Easwaran fails to make an impact
After Rohit Sharma retires from the longest format, the national side is in search of an opener. Abhimanyu Easwaran, who has celebrated 27 FC centuries in 173 innings along with 29 fifties, seemed to be one of the best options. However, his knock against the England Lions in the first innings of the Canterbury fixture didn’t inspire much confidence.
The India A captain looked restless to open his account on the first few deliveries. Against Josh Hull and Ajeet Dale, the right-handed batter aimed to play a few cover drives but hardly got a bat into it. On most occasions, he was ready for the out swinging deliveries.
Hull, who troubled Sri Lanka with pace and bounce last summer, drew the first blood. Easwaran was ready on the back foot, but Hull’s in swinging delivery trapped the Bengal opener before the stumps. For the entire inning, the Dehradun-born had no idea of his fourth stump. The poor knock can earn a rating as low as two out of ten.
On the other end, it was Yashasvi Jaiswal, who had already cemented his position in the national red-ball side. The southpaw got a lucky boundary to the third man region early in his inning. Although, Jaiswal was attentive in leaving the balls outside the off stump.
But he ran out of patience at the end. On 24, thanks to three boundaries and one six, Jaiswal used his feet to drill Eddie Jack out of the park. It was an outrageous shot from the 23-year-old against a pacer who is yet to make his FC debut for Hampshire.
He would be incredibly disappointed with the shot selection and will hope to improve the knock in the second innings. Jaiswal gets a rating of five out of ten.
Read More: Tracing Karun Nair’s long road back into India’s Test squad
Karun Nair, Sarfaraz Khan show admirable batting approach
Unlike the two openers, Karun Nair and Sarfaraz Khan put up a brilliant third-wicket partnership of 181 runs during the contest. The latter isn’t in the main squad of the Indian side to face England, but his knock will keep him ahead in the probable list of replacements.
Sarfaraz left the balls beautifully at the start of the innings. When the fast bowlers were going short at the Mumbai batter, he was using the pace to time it perfectly through the third-man region for a boundary. The right-handed batter, after getting set, played a few aggressive shots.
Sarfaraz began the second session with four through covers before taking on the spinners from the very first over. It was a frustrating end to his knock of 92 runs in 119 balls as he pulled the leg-sided delivery into the hands of the wicket-keeper.
Interestingly, Karun Nair walked at the number three for the India A side. Since then, he handled the situation with an admirable batting approach. Even though it was a mediocre bowling line-up for the England Lions, the conditions weren’t easy for Nair early in the innings.
Once he was set, the Rajasthan-born played the reverse sweeps and various aggressive shots against the spinners. The Vidarbha batter remained unbeaten on 186 runs, shouldering 24 boundaries and one six. Karun, who earns a rating of 9.5/10 on the opening day, will aim for a deserving double-century on the second day.
Just after the dismissal of Sarfaraz, Dhruv Jurel walked at five. He is in the Indian squad, perhaps as a replacement for Rishabh Pant. However, if things don’t go as planned and few batters find it difficult to score the runs, Jurel can turn up in the middle order. His knock of undefeated 82 runs in 104 will give a lot of confidence to the selectors.
Both Nair and Jurel will start the second morning for India A. They will hope to extend their individual knocks to put Blue Brigade to a powerful position.
And Karun Nair gets a 100 batting at no.3. 🤝🤝🤝
— Ashwin 🇮🇳 (@ashwinravi99) May 30, 2025
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