Kotian, Kamboj star on final day as tour game ends in draw

Tanush Kotian and Anshul Kamboj headlined the final day of the second unofficial Test between England Lions and India A as the match ended in a draw. The two shared an unbroken 121-run stand for the eighth wicket before Kamboj also struck twice in an over before the teams shook hands.

The partnership lasted the entirety of the middle sessions, and they scored at a touch over five runs an over for the 29.4 overs they batted together.

India A were already looking to accelerate towards the end of the first session, which ended with Shardul Thakur bowled by George Hill as he drove down the wrong line.

Kotian and Kamboj then piled on the runs for India A, and the team decided to push back their declaration till the tea break, even if they could have had a crack at Lions earlier in the game.

Kotian, who signalled his intentions early in his knock with a six off Josh Tongue, took the attack to Farhan Ahmed and the 17-year-old offspinner ended up conceding over 108 runs without a wicket.

Like Nitish Kumar Reddy and Thakur before him, Kotian targeted the spinner with big hits down the ground, while Kamboj was happy to dispatch anything short or overpitched from the fast bowlers.

They brought up their half-century stand off just 56 balls, soon after which Kotian scored his 16th first class fifty. The tall allrounder then quickened his scoring, with an array of strokes ranging from classical shots to more improvised ones like a ramp over the slips cordon.

Lions soon turned to part-time options like their openers Tom Haines and Ben McKinney as well as Emilio Gay, and it allowed Kamboj to ramp up his intent and bring up a maiden first-class fifty. Kamboj's shot of the day was when he took on a slot ball from Haines and lofted it down the ground for six.

After the tea break, the Lions came out to bat, with the declaration leaving Kotian 10 runs short of a fourth first-class century.

It was Tushar Deshpande who got the first wicket when he drew Haines' outside edge and Reddy took a diving catch to his left. Then Kamboj, in his second over, had Gay edging behind before beating Jordan Cox's outside edge to knock him over.

The day had begun for India A with Reddy and Dhruv Jurel watchfully playing out the first hour, although Tongue had Reddy edging to first slip where a regulation chance went down.

Reddy was on 17 then and he later brought out some big hits against Farhan to get to 42 before Hill, in the first over of his spell, castled him with a beauty. He got a length ball to seam in from outside off, with Reddy leaving a big gap as he fended down the wrong line.

In between the dropped chance and Reddy's wicket, Eddie Jack, who extracted appreciable movement off the pitch, got one to nip away and take Jurel's outside edge.

Thakur was enterprising in his innings, cutting Jack for four and hitting back-to-back sixes down the ground off Farhan. He tried to drive Hill through mid-off but Hill got it to seam in between bat and pad to end his cameo on 34 off 47 balls.

Among the bowlers from the England squad for the first Test, Chris Woakes bowled just three overs on the final day, and Tongue, who became an injury worry for the first Test when he hobbled off on the third day after bowling four overs, came out and bowled five on day four and looked in good rhythm in his spell.