India A Wallop England Lions by an Innings in Second Unofficial Test

Cricketnext Staff | Updated: February 15, 2019, 2:30 PM IST

India A won the second and final unofficial Test of the two-match series against England Lions by an innings and 68 runs at Mysore on Friday, thus sealing the series 1-0.

Put in to bat again after mustering just 144 in reply to India A’s first innings total of 392, the visitors failed to impress with the bat once again and were bundled out for 180.

Shahbaz Nadeem and Navdeep Saini were the architects of the visitors’ first innings demise but the second innings saw leg-spinner Mayank Markande (5-31) star for the home side.

It was another disappointing showing with the bat for the Lions with only Ben Duckett (50) managing to score a half-century.

Max Holden was the first batsman dismissed on the day while Duckett departed shortly thereafter, with both falling to Jalaj Saxena (2-40).

Sam Hain (15) and Sam Billings (20) both got off to decent starts but could not convert them. Markande got the wicket of Ollie Pope before running through the lower order.

A total of 17 wickets had fallen on Day 2 and the bowler-friendly nature of the pitch saw the Lions fall cheaply once again despite their bowlers doing a good job of keeping India’s first innings score down.

The hosts had resumed Day 2 at 282 for 3 but could only add 110 runs to their total as Zak Chappell (4 for 60) and Danny Briggs (3 for 71) ran through the home side to bundle them out for 392 in 114.4 overs.

However, in reply, the Indian bowlers hunted as a pack and dismissed England for 140 in 48.4 overs and skipper KL Rahul wasted no time in enforcing the follow-on, a decision that was vindicated by the bowlers on Day 3.

India had earlier won the five-match one-day series 4-1.