India's budding finisher Rinku Singh has been added to the India A squad that will take on England Lions in the 2nd Unofficial four-day Test starting January 24. England Lions are currently touring India as a part of their three unofficial Test tour.
Rinku wields an impressive first-class record. The Aligarh-born has scored 3109 runs across 65 innings, including seven tons and 20 half-centuries at an average of 57.57.
Notably, the first unofficial Test between India 'A' and England Lions turned out to be a high-scoring draw.
England Lions posted a massive total of 553/8 before declaring their innings. Keaton Jennings (154 runs off 188 balls) and Josh Bohannon (125 runs off 182 balls)dominated the Indian bowling attack and scored runs with ease on a batting-friendly deck at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
Slow left-arm orthodox bowler Manav Suthar was the pick of the India A bowlers in the first innings with figures of 4/137.
The India A batters didn't quite make the most out of the batting conditions as the hosts folded for just 227 runs. Barring Rajat Patidar (151 off 158 balls), none of the other India A batters looked comfortable against the English bowling attack with four of them scoring ducks.
Seamers Matthew Fisher and Matthew Potts were outstanding as they bagged 4/65 and 4/30 respectively to dismantle the India A batting order.
Jennings (64 off 65 deliveries) batted well again in the second innings as England Lions posted a mammoth 490 runs for India A to seal the game.
Taking lessons from the failure in the first innings, the India A batters looked more charged up and focused during the chase and posted 426 for the loss of five poles as the game ended in a draw.
India ‘A’ squad for the 2nd unofficial Test match vs England Lions:
Abhimanyu Easwaran (Captain), Sai Sudharsan, Rajat Patidar, Sarfaraz Khan, Tilak Varma, Kumar Kushagra, Washington Sundar, Sourabh Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Tushar Deshpande, Vidwath Kaverappa, Upendra Yadav, Akash Deep, Yash Dayal, Rinku Singh.
