India A bowlers toil but batters shine in drawn match against Lions

In the end, the first unofficial Test in Canterbury was mostly an extended batting session for both teams with bowlers toiling hard on a benign pitch. After England Lions were bowled out on the cusp of the lunch break on Monday having taken a 30-run lead, four India A batters scored brisk half-centuries before the teams agreed to a draw an hour after tea.

Those picking some easy runs included the India A opening pair of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Abhimanyu Easwaran, as well as Dhruv Jurel and Nitish Kumar Reddy. Jaiswal and Abhimanyu got off to aggressive starts and got to the 50-mark without breaking much sweat. While Jaiswal would be slightly disappointed about playing a loose stroke for the second time in the match, he did not berate himself on his way out like his captain did.

For Abhimanyu, tour matches are a sort of litmus test. He might have played for India A for several years, might have played 100-plus first-class matches, might have been picked in the India squad many times over the last few years, but his Test debut still remains a fair distance away. On the first day, after being asked to bat, Abhimanyu was back in the dressing room about half-hour into the morning, trapped lbw for 8. On Monday, he clipped a four off his legs and looked determined to score quickly and score big.

Lunging forward, he would hit successive fours through the covers against Lions' seamer Zaman Akhter to move close to a half-century, which he reached with a steer for a single. On 68, though, Abhimanyu attempted to reverse a delivery from legspinner Rehan Ahmed, who pitched it outside leg. It was an erroneous decision as he saw his leg stump uprooted.

Jurel, who walked in at one-down, and Reddy enjoyed some batting time before the game was called off. Both players are in the fray for spots in the first Test in Leeds starting June 20. Having missed out on the century by a mere six runs on the first day, Jurel once again showed his free-flowing strokeplay, and is likely to be competing against Karun Nair for a specialist batter's position in the middle order.

Reddy, on the other hand, will look to build on his bowling in the second match against Lions that starts in Northampton from June 6. Though cleared to play in March by the BCCI medical staff after he suffered a side strain, Reddy started to bowl only in the past few weeks and has been since then gradually building his workload. He bowled 14.5 overs in Canterbury while picking up one wicket, that of tailender Eddie Jack.