Bizarre Dismissal Unveiled by KL Rahul Exposes India's Struggles in Australia

KL Rahul continues to struggle as he finds himself in a rut once again, a familiar situation for the talented right-hander. Despite his experience, he seems unable to break free from this downward spiral. In his recent red-ball performances, he has been dismissed in peculiar ways, with multiple catches down the leg side in his last 10 innings. In the India A vs Australia match at the MCG, Rahul's woes continued as he fell to yet another bizarre dismissal.

On a rain-interrupted Day 2 of the match, Rahul suffered a brain fade of the highest order against off-spinner Corey Rocchiccioli after doing all the hard work against pacers Scott Boland, Beau Webster and Nathan McAndrew. In the first ball of the 18th over, Rahul completely misjudged the line of an innocuous off-spinner and offered no shot as the ball ricocheted off his pads to hit the stumps, leaving the batter embarrassed while he walked back to the dressing room. Rahul scored 10 off 44 balls in laborious innings devoid of any flamboyance that is generally associated with his batting.

Seeking to open the batting for India in case skipper Rohit Sharma skips the first Test against Australia in Perth, Rahul endured a disastrous outing in the tune-up to the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and managed just 14 runs across two innings, having got out for 10 in India A's second innings. Getting bowled between the legs has compounded his woes ahead of the blockbuster series.

Notably, Rahul and keeper Dhruv Jurel were sent to Australia before the other members of the main Indian Test squad to get some much-needed match practice. While Jurel made full use of the opportunity, the same cannot be said about Rahul, who might return to the top of the order for the first time since March 2023.

After bowling out India A for 161 on the opening day, Australia A managed 223, not a total the home team had hoped for, but it still gave them a substantial first-innings lead of 62 runs. Coming out to bat for the second time in the game, the Indian top-order disappointed again as the Australian bowlers struck some vital blows to help their team inch closer to a series sweep.

Abhimanyu Easwaran, who was picked as a backup opener for the upcoming five-match rubber Down Under, also failed to deliver, following his first-innings duck with a 17 from 31 balls.

The Indian top-order struggled against quality spin and pace, leaving them at 56/5 early in the second innings.

Wicketkeeper-batter Dhruv Jurel (19 batting) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (9 batting) ensured there was no further setback by negotiating the remaining overs before the stumps were drawn for the day.

Earlier, India A's pace attack, spearheaded by Prasidh Krishna's four-wicket burst and Mukesh Kumar's three-wicket haul, dominated the Australian batting, dismissing them for 223 in 62.1 overs.

Marcus Harris was the standout batter for Australia A, scoring a gritty 74 off 138 balls, while lower-order batter Rocchiccioli provided late fireworks, hitting 35 off 28 balls, including two sixes and three fours.

In response, India A lost openers Abhimanyu and Sai Sudharsan cheaply to disciplined bowling from Nathan McAndrew and Beau Webster.

Abhimanyu's misreading of McAndrew's pace led to his dismissal at gully, adding to the team's concerns.

Devdutt Padikkal (1) also fell cheaply, as both Webster (2/14) and McAndrew (2/22) tore through India's batting lineup.

However, Jurel and Reddy then held firm. Resuming the day on 53/2, Harris translated his overnight score of 26 into a well-constructed innings, showing resilience against a sharp Indian pace attack.

(With PTI Inputs)