India A vs England Lions Test Day 2 : Shardul-Reddy failed, bad light stopped the game
The second unofficial Test of the ongoing four-day series between India A and England Lions on the England tour has now reached an exciting turn. On the second day of the match played on Saturday, June 7, India’s bowling could not make much impact, especially there were expectations from fast bowling all-rounders like Shardul Thakur and Nitish Reddy, but they proved to be flops. At the same time, the day’s play was ended prematurely due to poor light. Let’s know the complete situation of the second day in detail.
When expectations were dashed Shardul and Reddy failed – The biggest concern for Team India A in this match was the form of fast bowling all-rounders Shardul Thakur and Nitish Reddy. Both bowled 6-6 overs but could not take a single wicket. This is when there was a lot of swing on the pitch. Earlier, the performance of both these players was average in the first four-day match played in Canterbury. Shardul took only 2 wickets for 105 runs in 28 overs, while Reddy got only 1 wicket in 14.5 overs. This is a matter of concern for the team management as India will need a reliable fast bowling all-rounder in the upcoming five-Test series against England. The performance of both of them will decide whether they will get a chance in the senior team or not.
Great start by England Lions, India A’s bowling lackluster – In response to India A’s first innings score of 348, England Lions had scored 192 runs for the loss of three wickets by the end of the second day’s play. Although the team is still 156 runs behind India, their batting start was very strong. Opener Emilio Gay played a brilliant innings of 71 runs in 117 balls, in which he hit seven fours. He was dismissed LBW by Tanush Kotian in the last over of the day.India got their first breakthrough when Anshul Kamboj got Ben McKinney (12) caught by wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel. After this, after lunch, Tushar Deshpande dismissed Tom Hans who scored 54 runs in 88 balls with the help of nine fours.
Bad light spoiled the fun of the game – The most disappointing thing on the second day was the bad light. As soon as the third session started, the weather started changing and only 13 overs could be bowled in the last session of the match. The umpires eventually had to stop the game. When the game stopped, Jordan Cox was unbeaten on 31 and James Ryu had not yet opened his account.
Rest of India A’s innings – India A’s first innings started at 319 for seven and the team scored 348 runs by adding 29 more runs to it. Tanush Kotian scored 15 runs in 37 balls while Anshul Kamboj was dismissed after scoring just two runs. Joshua Tung dismissed both of them and also played an important role in the run out of Tushar Deshpande. Khalil Ahmed returned unbeaten after scoring 7 runs. In this innings, KL Rahul played a brilliant innings of 116 runs and Dhruv Jurel played a brilliant innings of 52 runs.
