KL Rahul fails again, opener's slot at stake ahead of important BGT

Star India batter KL Rahul's return as an opener for India-A in the second unofficial Test against Australia-A in Melbourne ended poorly as he got out for a mere 4-run on November 7, Thursday. Rahul, who was part of the India squad for the recently-concluded series against New Zealand, found a place in the Test squad in Australia.

However, the move was made to provide KL Rahul and Dhruv Jurel with some game time before the much-awaited first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Perth. Rahul had only played the first Test against New Zealand, and despite getting backed by the management, he was dropped for the matches in Pune and Mumbai due to his poor form with the bat as well. Rahul was out for scores of 0 and 12 in the Bengaluru Test and the ongoing game in Melbourne was important for him to be there in the squad as well.

KL Rahul failed to step up

Considering the fact that Rohit Sharma is unlikely to play the Perth Test, the India batter had a chance to step up and get himself sealed at the opener's spot, where he had scored 2551 runs as well. However, India-A's start on Thursday was far from ideal as they found themselves in trouble in the very first over.

However, Michael Neser dismissed both Abhimanyu Easwaran and Sai Sudharsan off consecutive deliveries to leave the visitors 4 for 2 after the first over as well. Rahul started his innings with a stunning boundary off Scott Boland, but the happiness for the fans didn't last long as the Indian batter got out in the 3rd ball of the over, which left India-A struggling in the middle at 11 for 3 as well.

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Meanwhile, Neser picked up his third wicket in the form of captain Ruturaj Gaikwad, whose poor form with the bat in Australia continued after his twin failures in the first unofficial Test as well.

Dhruv Jurel shone with the bat

However, Devdutt Padikkal and Dhruv Jurel tried to steady the ship for India-A with a 53-run stand in Melbourne as well. Padikkal scored a steady knock of 26 from 55 balls but he was dismissed by Neser just before lunch. Jurel, on the other hand, tried to hold the fort as India-A went into lunch at 65 for 5 with Nitish Kumar Reddy also in the middle. Jurel shined with the bat with a stunning knock of 80 runs as none of the batters could contribute much.

Neser claimed 4 wickets while Webster picked up 3 wickets and bundled India A out for 161 runs as well. While chasing, Australia A too lost 2 wickets and they scored 53 for 2 before stumps.