Canterbury, June 1: Shardul Thakur and Nitish Kumar Reddy fighting for the lone seamer all-rounder’s slot in the Test team were way below par against a dogged England Lions batting unit that ended the third day’s play at 527 for 7 with the opening four-day game against India A meandering towards a tame draw.
Seamer Mukesh Kumar’s (3/75 in 21 overs) morning spell with the old Dukes was the only highlight in an otherwise mediocre bowling effort from India here on Sunday.It lacked necessary penetration required to make inroads on a docile track and Abhimanyu Easwaran’s captaincy just like his batting left a lot to be desired.
Between Shardul (1/90 in 21 overs) and Reddy (0/57 in 11 overs), they bowled 32 overs with the former getting an extended spell but not for once did it seem that they were in a position to trouble a stodgy Tom Haines (171) or a gutsy Dan Mousley (113), who got his maiden first-class hundred.
While Reddy took two spells to find his right length, Shardul was insipid at best. They are in a straight fight for the No.7 slot in the Indian Test eleven for the Leeds game but they bowled at an average speed that hovered around 75 miles per hour (120 kmph) and 78mph (125 kmph).
Shardul did get a wicket but credit for that would go to Sarfaraz Khan, who was positioned at slightly wide of first slip and dived full stretch to his left to take a one-handed stunner off an over-pitched delivery to deny Haines a sure-shot double ton.Whether the duo, both in Test squad, were told not to go full tilt in the post-lunch and post-tea session is a matter of conjecture but if senior team management wanted to have a better look at who among the two can give 10-12 overs a day in English conditions, they perhaps didn’t get a definitive answer.Replying to India A’s mammoth first innings score of 557, England A rode on fine batting efforts from overnight centurion Haines’ and Max Holden (101), who reached three figures during the opening session.
Apart from the two southpaws, there was a third one in Mousley, who also handled the Indian attack with ease.
The Haines-Holden 181-run stand for the third wicket was the cornerstone of England Lions innings. Haines-Mousley stand also yielded 93 runs while Mousley and Zaman Akhter (38 batting) added another 108 runs for the seventh wicket.
Mukesh did pitch the ball in right areas and got enough bounce and a bit of seam movement to dismiss Holden, James Rew (8) and Rehan Ahmed (3) in quick succession during the pre-lunch session.
Brief Scores: India A: 1st Innings 557. England Lions: 1st Innings 527/7 in 124 overs (Tom Haines 171, Max Holden 101, Dan Mousley 113, Mukesh Kumar 3/75). (PTI)
