He completed his century in 114 balls when he cut left-arm spinner Cooper Connolly to the third-man boundary
Dhruv Jurel
The stage was set for Shreyas Iyer to excel, but it was young Test wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel, who stole the thunder after the India ‘A’ skipper failed to get going and fell for a single-digit score. Jurel, who had kept wickets as a substitute in place of injured Rishabh Pant in two Test matches in England and later played in the final game at the Oval, batted with refreshing freedom against the Australia ‘A’ bowlers on Day Three of the four-day match at the Ekana Stadium here on Thursday.
181-run unbroken stand
Coming in when India ‘A’ were in a spot of bother after Sai Sudharsan and Iyer had fallen within 20 balls, Jurel went on to register his second first-class century to help the home team post a strong response of 403-4 at stumps on the penultimate day, to the opposition’s 532-6 declared. With not much at stake in the game, both not-out batters Jurel (113) and Devdutt Padikkal (86) will strive to build on their already big 181-partnership for the fifth wicket.
The play on third day could begin only 30 minutes before lunch due to overnight rain and soon India ‘A’ lost overnight batter N Jagadeesan for 64, who was playing resolutely till he edged one from Xavier Bartlett behind the stumps, and when Sai Sudharsan (73, 124 balls, 10x4) also departed after completing his half-century, Iyer walked in to the cheers of the small crowd. However, after hitting off-spinner Todd Murphy over long on for a well-struck boundary, in the next over, he was trapped leg-before to another off-spinner, Cory Rocchiccioli, when he missed an attempted flick towards mid-wicket. Shreyas lasted barely 13 balls and managed just eight runs with the solitary boundary.
Off with a bang
As a disappointed Shreyas walked towards the pavilion, local lad Jurel walked in confidently and immediately struck a couple of boundaries off the two off-spinners to get his innings going. Thereafter, be it spin or pace, he was never in trouble and kept the scoreboard moving with some excellent strokes all around the park. He completed his century in 114 balls when he cut left-arm spinner Cooper Connolly to the third-man boundary.
Brief scores
Australia ‘A’ 532-6d vs India ‘A’ 403-4 (D Jurel 113*, D Padikkal 86*, S Sudharsan 73, N Jagadeesan 64, A Easwaran 44)
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