The first unofficial Test between England Lions and India A ends in a high scoring draw! Winning the toss England Lions elected to bowl first and conceded 557 runs before bundling out the Indian side.
Karun Nair who made his way back in the Indian Test fold after nearly a decade stamped his authority with 204 in 281 balls. Dhruv Jurel and Sarfaraz Khan contributed with 94 and 92 respectively to add some pressure on the selectors.
For the Lions, Josh Hull (3/72) and Zaman Akhter (3/73) shared six wickets between them with England's leading Test spinner Rehan Ahmed managing to grab only tailender Anshul Kamboj's scalp conceding 144 runs in 27 overs.
It was a much better performance for the hosts with the blade as opener Tom Haines after getting a life early on 11 made full use of it and ended his knock on 171. Max Holden (101) and Dan Mousley (113) also moved into three figures, with Holden scoring at a-run-a-ball, just the template the English senior side has set for themselves.
Mukesh Kumar was the pick of the Indian bowlers with 3/92 and even Karun Nair has his moment of glory with the ball removing Mousley. The Lions got the first innings lead with the scorecard reading 587/10.
With the only result feasible being a dull draw, the Indian batters made good use of the conditions with Yashasvi Jaiswal (64), Abhimanyu Easwaran (68), Dhruv Jurel (53*) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (52*) all scoring centuries to add 241/2 in 41 overs before the players shook hands just under an hour after tea.