Follow UsFresh from the Indian Premier League (IPL), KL Rahul announced his arrival in England in grand style, smashing a century against the England Lions, in what was his maiden innings on the tour.
Rahul, playing for India A against the England Lions on June 6 (Friday), smashed a brilliant 116 off 168 balls on Day 1 of the second four-day match, being played at the County Ground, Northampton.
The 33-year-old, who had requested the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to allow him to go to England and play the second unofficial Test with India A, instead of practising at home in Bengaluru, made full use of that opportunity while opening the innings.
Players in the English bowling attack in this match also have the potential to be part of England's playing 11 for the first Test between the two teams at Hedingley, starting June 20, with Chris Woakes and Josh Tongue playing for the Lions.
Thus, it was only better for Rahul to be part of this game and open the innings, which, in all likelihood, will be his preferred position, now that Rohit Sharma has anyway retired from the longest format.
It was not an easy start for the right-hander as he saw the ball move, which got rid of his opening partner Yashasvi Jaiswal and India A captain Abhimanyu Easwaran.
Rahul then stitched together a decent partnership with his fellow Karnataka batter, Karun Nair, who looked to continue his good form. The duo added 86 for the third wicket as Rahul got settled. But Nair, who had hit a double ton in the previous four-day game, was trapped in front by Woakes for 40, against the run of play.
Rahul continued to tickle away and found the odd boundary as and when needed to transfer the pressure back on the bowling team. He built yet another partnership, this time around with wicketkeeper-batter Dhruv Jurel, adding 121 off just 159 balls for the fourth wicket.
However, after reaching his milestone a hundred, number 19 in First-Class cricket, Rahul first saw Jurel getting bowled by George Hill and then followed suit, getting out for 116, caught by Emilio Gay off the bowling of the same bowler.
At the time of writing this, India were six down for 286 in 71 overs, with 19 overs left to be bowled in the day. Tanush Kotian and Nitish Kumar Reddy were at the crease.