India A flex their batting muscle as Nair makes test spot case with Jurel and Sarafaraz also chipping with 50+ scores.
India A flex their batting prowess in some style as they end day 1 against England Lions on a healthy 409/3.
Although there may be disagreements regarding Karun Nair’s inclusion in the India XI for the first Test match against England, which begins in Leeds on June 20, the batter made his case with a century full of strokes on the first day of the unofficial Test between the India A and England Lions in Canterbury. As he eased his way to his 24th first-class century, Nair displayed a variety of strokes, including cuts, upper cuts, steers, punched drives, pulls, inside-out drives, and many reverse sweeps. He finished the day undefeated at 186.
After India, Nair arrived early in the morning. Josh Hull, a left-arm fast bowler, trapped captain and opener Abhimanyu Easwaran plumb for eight in the sixth over. Nair got up to the conditions and the bowling as a gloomy and a little chilly first hour gave way to a picture-perfect sunny afternoon. Before Yashasvi Jaiswal made a wrong stroke approximately 30 minutes prior to lunch, Nair was not the centre of attention.
Before deciding to try a wild slog against a length delivery from Eddie Jack, Jaiswal, who has a tendency to make large hundreds, appeared to be enjoying his first day of this lengthy England tour.
Sarfaraz Khan and Nair, who was on 26 at lunch, erased whatever temporary psychological advantage the Lions, who had chosen to field, could have had from Jaiswal’s dismissal. As the inexperienced Lions bowling, who have a combined total of six Test caps, was evident throughout, both hitters did not let go of any scoring opportunities, which came often.
As the Lions seamers attempted to entice him to go for his strokes in the hopes that the ball would seam away and take an edge, Nair in particular took advantage of the large vacant pocket between point and mid-off. Nair continued to lunge forward to punch square drives and cover drives, which was unfortunate for Lions.
The 33-year-old Nair last participated in a Test match in 2017. In 2016, he achieved just the second triple-centurion for India in his third Test match against England in Chennai. It was the first century of his life. The selectors felt that Nair might provide experience given the retirements of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli if he was selected in the starting lineup for the England series, which is India’s debut in the new World Test Championship cycle (2025–27).
On first day of India’s long summer in England, Nair did himself no harm by grabbing the limelight quietly.