Mullanpur: Yashasvi Jaiswal couldn’t capitalise on a good start as India treaded cautiously to reach 96 for 1 at lunch on the opening day of the one-off Test against Afghanistan here Saturday.
Veteran KL Rahul (37 batting off 70 balls) survived what looked like a clear nick in TV replays but the bowling team didn’t appeal for caught behind.
Rahul played some gorgeous strokes while defending dourly on a seemingly flat track against an Afghan attack that looked decent without being threatening.
Sai Sudharsan (32 off 49 balls) also played some delightful shots, including a graceful drive past the bowler but also got a reprieve early on when he was dropped at first slip by former KKR star Rahmanullah Gurbaz off debutant left-arm spinner Nangeyalia Kharote.
However, one person who would rue that he missed out on a big knock is Jaiswal, who was dismissed in the most innocuous fashion.
Right-arm pacer Mohammad Saleem’s delivery bounced a shade extra and Jaiswal tried to tuck it off his hips towards fine leg but only managed to tickle it to keeper Afsar Zazai.
An over before that, Rahul was insanely lucky that keeper Zazai didn’t appeal when the batter edged one from Ziaur Rahman (0/20 in 6 overs), easily the most incisive of the three pacers.
The replays showed that Rahul edged it but since the stumper didn’t appeal, he survived.
In between, there was the signature on-drive, a classical straight drive, and a whip through mid-wicket.
Along with Sudharsan, he added 55 runs off 79 balls to keep the momentum going in the home team’s favour.
Sudharsan, who got a firm backing from coach Gautam Gambhir, looked fluent against the pacers even though he was slightly shaky against the slow bowlers.
One delivery from off-spinner Abdul Malik jumped a bit, and Sudharsan’s loose top hand was evident as he punched it through the mid-wicket boundary.
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