Eng Lions vs IND A | Rahul stamps his class with excellent century to kick off England tour

‌Senior Indian batter KL Rahul warmed up for the challenging England tour with a century in his first innings during the second unofficial Test between England Lions vs India A in Northampton on Friday.

Put into bat first at the County Ground on a green top and with overcast conditions conducive for pace bowling, Rahul used all his experience to negotiate the tricky first hour before opening up to play his shots. He displayed patience and character as he saw off Chris Woakes who was bowling a pinpoint spell with the new ball.

Rahul held one end up though he lost his opening partner Yashasvi Jaiswal (17) and captain Abhimanyu Easwaran (11) with both being trapped in front of the wicket by Woakes. India A was in some trouble with the score reading 40/2 by the 11th over as Woakes’ first six overs went for just eight runs, including three maidens and two wickets.

When the in-form batter Karun Nair joined him in the middle to continue proceedings after a short rain break, Rahul had a solitary boundary to his name and had reached eight off 25 balls. But the Indian batter gradually started finding the boundaries once Woakes and his new-ball partner Josh Tongue were replaced. He scored boundaries in consecutive overs to take India A past the 50-run mark as Karun looked assured at the other end as they walked off for lunch without further damage at 75/2.

The duo continued to flourish in the second session going past their 50-run partnership en route to taking the side past 100. But, against the run of play, Karun became Woakes’ third dismissal as the former Karnataka batter could not make use of a good start and walked back after making 40 off 71 balls. But Rahul continued to dig out from the other end and got to his 50, off 102 balls, in the 38th over.

Rahul switched gears admirably after his 50 as he counter-attacked the English bowlers. He scored three fours in the gap of four balls in consecutive overs from medium pacer George Hill and welcomed off-spinner Farhan Ahmed into the attack with a six in his first over. With Dhruv Jurel also finding the boundaries, India ended the second session on a high at 213/3.

The Delhi Capitals batter reached his 19th first-class hundred in 151 balls, the second fifty coming in only 49 balls. With Jurel also completing his fifty in the previous over, the pair looked well-set to end the day on a high. But the 121-run partnership for the fourth wicket came to a halt when the wicketkeeper-batter was cleaned up by Hill for 52.

With Rahul also departing in the space of seven balls, India A slightly lost their way to finish proceedings on day 1 at 319/7. The opener scored 15 fours and a six in his patient innings to top-score for India A with 116 off 168 balls.