Karun Nair was elegance personified while serving a timely reminder to the Gautam Gambhir-led team management with a classy unbeaten 186 as India A cruised to 409 for 3 against a below-par England Lions on the opening day of the first ‘Unofficial’ Test in Canterbury on Friday. While Nair is known to bat either at No. 4 or below in first-class cricket, he looked at ease during his unbeaten ball knock which made the Lions bowlers, including their Test star Rehan Ahmed, look completely pedestrian. India A batters made the best use of loose deliveries but the quality of Lions bowling attack and nature of the track might not be an appropriate reflection of what can be expected in Test matches.
The Bengaluru man, who now plays for Vidarbha, used his extensive experience of playing for English County Northamptonshire during his 24th first-class ton.
His innings had 24 fours and one six but it couldn’t have come at a more opportune time as Gambhir frets over his batting combination for the opening Test against England at Leeds, starting June 20.
Sarfaraz Khan (92 off 119 balls) blended a bit of muscle and a lot of cheekiness but missed out on a three-figure mark after doing all the hard work. He has not been picked for India’s Test series against England.
The duo added 181 runs for the third wicket stand and then Dhruv Jurel (82 batting, 104 balls) made merry during another 177-run stand for the unbroken fourth wicket alliance.
Call it irony, just like Nair had pipped Sarfaraz as the extra batter in the Test squad, he also overshadowed the Mumbai man on a flat deck where the Lions attack didn’t have enough teeth to trouble some of the senior India stars. Conceding 51 boundaries and three sixes in 90 overs doesn’t make for a great reading.
Yashasvi Jaiswal (24 off 55 balls) played out the first hour but didn’t utilize the start while Abhimanyu Easwaran (8), who should consider himself massively lucky to have got another shot at Test team, showed why he isn’t cut out for the big league.
The Canterbury County ground pitch had a greenish tinge but there was hardly any lateral movement on offer. Nair had extra time to play his shots and was severe on all bowlers with a lot of shots square of the wicket.
Rehan, the England Test leg-spinner, was extremely ordinary as he was clobbered for 95 runs in 16 overs. Sarfaraz, in fact, hit him inside out for a boundary to complete his fifty and also hit him straight for a maximum, and against pacers, he used the bounce to play the ramp shot over slips for useful runs.
Nair was severe on anything that was pitched short and looked regal whenever he rocked back to play the pull shot. When off-spinner Dan Mousley bowled, he repeatedly played the reverse sweep with minimal effort.
The duo farmed the strike without much ado and when Sarfaraz lazily chased a wide delivery from Hull down the leg-side, even Lions bowlers didn’t expect a wicket.
But the joy was short-lived as there was no taking the foot from the pedal from either Nair or Jurel, who continued to show disdain for home team bowlers.
Brief scores: India A: 409/3 in 90 overs (Karun Nair 186 batting; Sarfaraz Khan 92, Dhruv Jurel 82 batting; Josh Hull 2/51).
