KL Rahul tanks on return as opener, Rohit’s back-up and Sudharsan out for ducks

The Indian team management’s move to send KL Rahul back to the top of the order tanked as the right-hander was dismissed for a run-a-ball four in the India A vs Australia A four-day match that started on Thursday at the iconic MCG in Melbourne. Rahul, the only player in the India A XI who has previously played at the MCG, was sent back by Scott Boland in the second over of the match. India A got off to the worst possible start after bein sent in to bat at a lively MCG pitch. Australia A pacers Michael Neser and Scott Boland gave India’s future stars the ‘G’ experience with the new ball.
Neser struck twice in the first over, sending back Abhimanyu Easwaran (0 off 3 balls) and Sai Sudharsan (0 off 1 ball) off successive deliveries. Rahul got off the mark with a boundary but did not last long as he was sent packing by Boland, who is likely to play the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, starting November 22 in Perth. Neser was at it again in the next over. The right-arm pacer dismissed India A captain Ruturaj Gaikwad for 4, reducing the visitors to 11/4 in the third over of the match.
India A batters’ poor show for the second match in a row is bound to keep the Indian think worried, especially when there are serious doubts over India captain Rohit Sharma’s availability for the series-opener due to personal reasons. If Rohit does not play the first Test, then India head coach Gautam Gambhir would have his task out to select Yashasvi Jaiswal’s opening partner.
Rahul has not opened the batting for India since February last year. Although he has been a designated opener for the major part of his career, he reclaimed his spot in India’s XI after finding success in the middle order. The sparkling century batting at No.6 against South Africa made him the first overseas player to score more than one Test century at the SuperSports Park in Centurion. Rahul played crucial knocks while batting in middle-order in the home series against England and Bangladesh. But he was dropped from the playing XI for the final two Tests against New Zealand as India had no option but to accommodate Sarfaraz Khan in the middle-order after his scintillating 150 in the Pune Test.
However, with Rohit uncertain for the first half of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Rahul was sent to Australia early. He linked up with the India A squad for this final four-day game to get some match practice as an opener.
Apart from Rahul, wicketkeeper-batter Dhruv Jurel was another member of India’s Test squad added to the India A team for this four-day affair. It was Jurel’s fighting half-century that saved India A from embarrassment at the MCG. After 42 overs, India A were 120/8 with Jurel batting on 61.