India's worries over finding an opening partner for Yashasvi Jaiswal for the first Test of the Border Gavaskar Trophy continued on Thursday with the failure of KL Rahul and Abhimanyu Easwaran in the second unofficial Test between India 'A' and Australia 'A' in Melbourne.
With Rohit Sharma almost certain to miss the series opener, India's headache around finding a second opener has worsened.
Batting first at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, India 'A' were reduced to 11 for 4, which included the wickets of Easwaran (0) and Rahul (4), falling to Michael Neser and Scott Boland respectively.
Auditioning in the match was also wicketkeeper-batsman Dhruv Jurel, who impressed with a fighting knock of 80 runs. However, he found little support from the other end as the innings folded up for 161.
Jurel came in when India had lost four wickets inside the third over, which meant he faced the new ball and, thus, could claim an outside chance to play as an opener in the Perth Test. He played 186 balls and his knock included 6 fours and 2 sixes.
Neser made all the right moves for a Test recall with his figures of 4 for 27, but he suffered a setback in the form of a hamstring injury.
Coming out to bat after dismissing India, Australia reached 53 for 2 at stumps as a failure for opener Nathan McSweeny (14) didn't help his chances to fill that spot for Australia.
The other Australian in the fray for a Test spot as opener is Sam Konstas. He was batting on one when stumps were drawn.
The five-Test Border Gavaskar Trophy begins in Perth on November 22.
