India A suffer heavy defeat against Australia A as KL Rahul struggles on return, Easwaran and Sudharsan fail to impress

In the opening over, Neser showcased his prowess by taking two quick wickets, getting Abhimanyu Easwaran and Sai Sudharsan out consecutively. Easwaran could only manage 0 runs off 3 balls, while Sudharsan departed without scoring on just 1 ball. Rahul managed to hit a boundary to get off the mark but his innings was short-lived as Boland dismissed him soon after. Boland is a strong contender to feature in the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test series starting on November 22 in Perth. The relentless Neser continued to torment India A in the following over, removing captain Ruturaj Gaikwad for just 4 runs, leaving the visitors struggling at 11/4 after just three overs.

India A batters' poor show for the second match in a row is bound to keep the Indian think worried, especially when there are serious doubts over India captain Rohit Sharma's availability for the series-opener due to personal reasons. If Rohit does not play the first Test, then India head coach Gautam Gambhir would have his task out to select Yashasvi Jaiswal's opening partner.

Who will open for India in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy?

Rahul has not opened the batting for India since February last year. Although he has been a designated opener for the major part of his career, he reclaimed his spot in India's XI after finding success in the middle order. The sparkling century batting at No.6 against South Africa made him the first overseas player to score more than one Test century at the SuperSports Park in Centurion. Rahul played crucial knocks while batting in middle-order in the home series against England and Bangladesh. But he was dropped from the playing XI for the final two Tests against New Zealand as India had no option but to accommodate Sarfaraz Khan in the middle-order after his scintillating 150 in the Pune Test.

However, with Rohit uncertain for the first half of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Rahul was sent to Australia early. He linked up with the India A squad for this final four-day game to get some match practice as an opener.

Apart from Rahul, wicketkeeper-batter Dhruv Jurel was another member of India's Test squad added to the India A team for this four-day affair. It was Jurel's fighting half-century that saved India A from embarrassment at the MCG. After 42 overs, India A were 120/8 with Jurel batting on 61.

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