England Lions take command v India 'A'

Ajinkya Rahane

England Lions tightened the screws on India A as they dismissed the visitors for 197 and were going strong at 159 for 4 in their second innings on the third day of the only four-day unofficial Test here. England Lions were already leading by 385 runs with 6 wickets remaining.

Resuming at 144 for 4, Ajinkya Rahane (49) and Rishab Pant (58) added another 45 runs to take India A to 189 before the latter was dismissed in the 62nd over by Chris Woakes after he completed his half-century. Pant, who was today included in the Test squad for India's senior team for the Test series against England, hit six boundaries and cleared the ropes once during his 111-ball innings.

Rahane too was sent packing in the next over by Sam Curran as India A slumped to 189-6. Curran trapped Shahbaz Nadeem (0) LBW in his next ball, before picking up Mohammed Siraj (1) and Navdeep Saini (0) as India A were all out for 197. In their second essay, England Lions suffered an early blow when Siraj removed former England skipper and first innings centurion Alastair Cook (5) cheaply and then sent back Nick Gubbins (9) to leave them at 25-2.

But skipper Rory Burns (38) and Dawid Malan (56) added 47 to steady the innings before Siraj struck again removing the opener in the 27th over. However, Malan and Ollie Pope (32) took the hosts close to the 150-mark by adding 70 runs. Once Nadeem cleaned up Malan in the 44th over, Woakes joined Pope as the duo tried to resurrect the innings.

Brief score:
England Lions: 423 India A: 197 allout in 66.5 overs (PP Shaw 62, R Pant 58; S Curran 5/43) England Lions: 159-4 in 46.4 overs (D Malan 56; M Siraj 48-3).

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