England Lions vs India A, 1st Unofficial Test Revew: Nair's Class and Jurel's Finish Give India A Commanding Lead

In the first unofficial Test between the two teams at Canterbury's St Lawrence Ground, the England Lions won the toss and chose to play, and India A ended up reaching 409/3 on Day 1. Just four runs were scored in the opening five overs. Josh Hull's trapping of Abhimanyu Easwaran (eight off 17) on the front pad was the morning's first breakthrough. The duo of Karun Nair and Yashasvi Jaiswal effectively dismissed the new-ball duo of Josh Hull and Ajeet Singh Dale.

India A easily defeated the England Lions 409/3 on the opening day of the four-day Unofficial Test in Canterbury on Friday, with Karun Nair finishing Day 1 at 186*. The other undefeated player, Dhruv Jurel, scored 82. Earlier, Sarfaraz Khan missed a lot of runs after Josh Hull bowled him out for 92. Abhimanyu Easwaran (8) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (24) did not make any significant contributions as India A lost the opening two wickets for 51 runs.

England Lions vs India A Highlights:

The pair ended a session without a wicket in spectacular fashion. For the Lions' bowling unit, it was a difficult grind. Sarfaraz was on 92* at Tea, while Nair was on 91*. Six deliveries into the day's last session, the latter died. James Rew got his second catch of the day, while Hull got his second wicket. In the day's 60th over, Nair reached his 24th First-Class century. 19 runs were scored in the seventh over bowled by Rehan Ahmed. In the 74th and 80th overs, respectively, Nair and Dhruv Jurel reached their 150th and 50th. Jurel (82* off 104) and Nair (186* off 246) were called as stumps.

Talking about the England Lions bowlers, Dale Singh bowled the most overs (19). Hull (2/51 in 14 overs) and Jack (1/51 in 15 overs) took the three wickets in India A's score of 409/3 in 90 overs. Rehan, one of the two Lions players with caps, had a drab day. In 16 overs, the leg-spinner gave up 95 runs and went wicketless.

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