Jurel's unbeaten ton drives India A’s progress in unofficial Test' against Australia A

Lucknow, Sep 18 (PTI) Wicket-keeper batter Dhruv Jurel's unbeaten 113 underlined a collective batting show from India ‘A’ that reached 403 for four against Australia A on day three of the unofficial Test here Thursday.

Apart from Jurel's 132-ball effort (10x4s, 4x6s) India were also bolstered by half-centuries from overnight batter N Jagadeesan (64), B Sai Sudharsan (73) and an unbeaten 86 from Devdutt Padikkal.

Sipper Shreyas Iyer (8), though, could not make a mark.

India A were trailing by another 129 runs as the contest heads for a draw.

Earlier, a brisk century from Sam Konstas (109) and Josh Philippe’s unbeaten 123 had taken the Australia A side to 532 for six declared.

The teams will face off here at the Ekana Stadium from September 23-26 for the second four-day unofficial Test before heading to Kanpur for a three-match one-day series.

The day's proceedings began with India A resuming at 116 for one as overnight pair of Jagadeesan and Sudharsan looked to build a stand but they could not do so.

Jagadeesan, who had received a Test call-up in England last month, fell for 64 off 113 balls (7 fours, 1 six) after he was caught by Philippe off Xavier Bartlett.

The hosts carried on smoothly with the pair of Sudharsan and Padikkal putting on 76 runs to consolidate the innings.

The bulk of the scoring was done by the left-handed Tamil Nadu batter Sudharsan who made his Test debut in England, but Connolly trapped him leg-before in the 59th over of the innings.

India A skipper Iyer indeed had an opportunity to prove his point after recent snubs from the national side and given that the India squad will be soon picked for a two-Test series against West Indies early next month.

But Iyer, who has otherwise not put a foot wrong and in particular enjoys success against spinners, fell to Western Australia spinner Corey Rocchiccioli for only 8 in the 62nd over, which did put India A in a spot of bother.

This was when Jurel and Padikkal joined forces to take control and the pair stayed unseparated until the stumps.

Jurel and Padikkal’s unbeaten 181-run stand for the fifth wicket gave India A the bragging rights by the time play ended, since they scored their runs at a healthy run rate of nearly four an over.

Padikkal was batting on 86 not out off 178 balls with eight fours.

Brief Scores: Australia A 1st innings: 532/6 decl India A 1st innings: 403/4 in 103 overs (N Jagadeesan 64, B Sai Sudharsan 73, Devdutt Padikkal 86, Dhruv Jurel 113 not out; Liam Scott 1/31) PTI DDV AT AT