KL Rahul got bowled out in a bizarre fashion after facing 44 balls in the second innings at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Friday as the India batter’s struggle continued in Australia ahead of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT). Rahul, who is expected to open the innings in the first Test in place of Rohit Sharma, was sent early in Australia to get acclimatized with the conditions.
However, the India think-tank’s idea didn’t work out as Rahul failed in both the innings. While he was dismissed for just four, the right-hander looked completely out of sorts during his time in the middle. Up against Corey Rocchiccioli, Rahul completely misjudged a delivery that was tossed up and looked to leave the ball that was coming straight.
The ball hit his left pad before hitting the stumps in between his legs, leaving Rahul embarrassed. Rahul managed just 14 (4 and 10) runs in the game, a stat that could give coach Gautam Gambhir sleepless nights.
Earlier, Rahul played just one game against New Zealand in the recent Test series, scoring 0 and 12 in Bengaluru. As far as the game is concerned, India once again endured a top-order collapse on Friday.
Following India A’s 161 in the first innings, Australia A managed 223, thus taking a 62-run lead. In reply, Abhimanyu Easwaran, who is in the side for BGT, continued to struggle against the moving ball while the likes of Sai Sudharsan (3), captain Ruturaj Gaikwad (11) and Devdutt Padikkal (1) also fell cheaply.
At stumps, India A are at 73/5 with first innings star Dhruv Jurel (19 not out) and Nitish Reddy (9 not out) in the middle. Earlier, Prasidh Krishna’s four-wicket burst and Mukesh Kumar’s three-wicket haul helped India A bundle out the opposition in 62.1 overs. With 74 off 138 balls, Marcus Harris was top-scorer for Australia A.
Easwaran, who came into the side on the back of four hundreds in four consecutive domestic games, was picked as a back-up opener to Rohit and Yashasvi Jaiswal. While he scored a duck in the first innings, the Bengal opener showed little resilience for his 17-ball 31 in the second. He misread Nathan McAndrew’s pace which led to his dismissal at gully.
