Virender Sehwag’s experiment to bat in the middle-order didn’t yield any favourable result while Gautam Gambhir’s woeful run of form continued as India A reached 191 for three at stumps on the second day of their second unofficial ‘Test’ against West Indies A here on Thursda
After West Indies A scored a decent 406 in their first innings, opener Gambhir (11) and No. 4 Sehwag (7) played atrocious shots off left-arm spinner Veeraswamy Permaul’s (2/60) bowling to get back to the cooler confines of the dressing room.
Unheralded Kerala opener Vasudevan Jagadeesh showed a lot of temperament as he remained undefeated on 79 in the company of in-form Abhishek Nayar, who again showed his utility with an useful 56.
Youngster Jagadeesh, who narrowly missed out on a century during a ‘Test’ against New Zealand ‘A’ earlier this year, showed a lot of composure during his 172-ball knock that included eight boundaries.
Nayar was in his attacking self as he smacked seven boundaries and a six in only 38 balls, coming into bat after skipper Cheteshwar Pujara (25, 90 balls) was dismissed after a dogged effort.
India were 215 runs behind West Indies A and require another 66 runs to avoid follow-on at the Jawaharlal Nehru National College of Engineering Cricket grounds.
The capacity crowd — mostly engineering students were left high and dry by the Delhi duo Sehwag and Gambhir, who not only disappointed fans but also didn’t make a case for the two national selectors Roger Binny and Saba Karim, who have come to especially watch the senior players.
Gambhir didn’t look comfortable at all against seamer Miguel Cummins as he struggled for 43 balls with just a boundary to his name. left-arm spinner Permaul got his scalp in his third over as Gambhir tried an ugly hoick but managed to offer a dolly to Fidel Edwards.
While Gambhir ran out of patience, Sehwag wasn’t even patient enough to grind it out as he played a dozen deliveries before trying to give Permaul the charge only to get stumped in the process.
All India ‘A’ wickets fell to opposition left-arm spinners as Nikita Miller accounted for Pujara after he shared a 60-run second wicket partnership with Jagadeesh. Amidst the fall of big guns, Jagadeesh admirably put a price tag on his wicket adding 77 runs for the unbroken fourth wicket stand with Nayar.
Jagadeesh brought his 12th first-class half-century by playing Permaul on the on-side for two runs after he had faced 98 balls with seven hits to the fence.
Earlier, left-arm spinner Bharghav Bhatt came up with a career-best seven-wicket haul but that could not stop West Indies A from piling up 406 all out in their first innings at lunch.
Brief Scores: West Indies A: 406 (Johnson 91, Miller 64 no, Bhatt 7-113) lead India A: 191/3 (Jagadeesh 79 no, Nayar 56 no; V Permaul 2/60) by 215 runs.