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Rediff.com  » Cricket » PHOTOS: Rahul, Pujara fifties rally India 'A' vs Aus on Day 1

PHOTOS: Rahul, Pujara fifties rally India 'A' vs Aus on Day 1

Source: PTI
July 22, 2015 19:08 IST
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K L Rahul

India 'A' opener K L Rahul hits a boundary. Photograph: BCCI

Opener K L Rahul missed out on a hundred while captain Cheteshwar Pujara struck a solid fifty to steer India 'A' to 221 for six on a rain-affected first day of the first 'unofficial' Test against Australia 'A', in Chennai, on Wednesday.

Rahul (96 off 185 balls) and Pujara (55 off 122) held the innings together before the touring Australians fought back as only 77.1 overs were bowled because of rain.

Young Shreyas Iyer was another batsman who contributed with a good innings of 39 off 58 balls.

Andrew Fekete and Steve O' Keefe claimed two wickets each for the visitors.

India 'A' opener K L Rahul. Photograph: BCCI

Rahul, playing his first competitive match after missing out on the one-off Test in Bangladesh due to dengue, was cautious from the beginning after his team opted to bat in the four-day contest.

The Karnataka batsman played well but missed out on a deserved century as he was caught at mid-on off pacer Sean Abbott. His gritty knock saw him hit 14 boundaries besides sharing a crucial 107-run stand with skipper Pujara to rally the hosts after an early wicket.

Pujara, who is leading the India 'A' side after being overlooked from the playing eleven in the one-off Test in Bangladesh last month, spent substantial time at the crease.

Cheteshwar Pujara

India 'A' captain Cheteshwar Pujara. Photograph: BCCI

Batting was not easy on a slow wicket and the Australia bowlers too did well to comeback in the contest.

Feteke, who claimed 2 for 38 in 17 overs, later said the wicket was slow, helping him get rid of Pujara.

"Due to slowness of the wicket it is difficult to score runs," he said.

India lost opener Abhinav Mukund as he was bowled by pacer Feteke in the second over of the innings.

India 'A' opener Abhinav Mukund is bowled by Andrew Fekete. Photograph: BCCI

The quick fall of Pujara and Karun Nair (0) put the hosts in a spot of bother but Rahul and Iyer stemmed the fall of wickets and at tea, India were 175 for 3 in 57 overs.

Iyer was looking good for a big knock but was bowled by Gurinder Sandhu soon after tea.

At stumps, Vijay Shankar was batting on four while Amit Mishra was yet to open his account.

Brief scores:

India 'A' 221 for six in 77.1 overs (KL Rahul 96, Pujara 55, Iyer 39, Fekete 2-38, O'Keefe 2-66) vs Australia 'A'.

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