Courtesy: CA/X
On Saturday, November 9, Dhruv Jurel brought up back-to-back fifties for India A in the second unofficial Test of the two-match series against Australia A at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). The day three of the contest saw the middle to lower order of India A showing great resistance in their second innings in front of a fiery Australia A bowling attack, led by Dhruv Jurel, but their efforts weren’t enough as the team ultimately suffered a defeat by six wickets.
With a lead of 11 runs, India A started batting on day three with a score of 73/5 as Dhruv Jurel and Nitish Kumar Reddy were at the crease, and these two young right-handed batters managed to stitch together a 94-run stand for the sixth wicket, to keep India A in the contest. Dhruv Jurel’s fighting innings of 68 off 122 with five fours came to an end as spinner Corey Rocchiccioli dismissed him for the second time in the match while trying to smash him in the air for a maximum.
Australia A clinched two-match unofficial Test series 2-0 against India A at MCG
Nitish Kumar Reddy was the next to go for 38 runs in 81 balls with five fours and one maximum before Tanush Kotian (44 off 84) and Prasidh Krishna (29 off 43) built a 49-run stand for the eight wicket, to push India A’s lead beyond 150. Ultimately, Australia A managed to bowl out the visitors for 229 runs in their second innings, to get a target of 168 runs with 2-0 series win at stake at the MCG.
In the run chase, Australia A had a horrible start as Marcus Harris and Cameron Bancroft, the two players hoping to make the senior team in the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT), were dismissed for golden ducks on consecutive balls by Prasidh Krishna. Following that, Nathan McSweeney and Sam Konstas wrestled the momentum back from India A with a controlled partnership of 47 runs for the third wicket.
Ultimately, it was the unbeaten fifth wicket partnership of 96 runs between Sam Konstas (73* off 128) and Beau Webster (46* off 66), that took Australia over the finishing line for a six-wicket win, clinching the series 2-0 against India A.
