After bowling out the England Lions for 152 runs in 52.4 overs, India A’s batters went to work. Skipper Abhimanyu Easwaran and opener Devdutt Padikkal stitched a brilliant 162-run partnership to go past the score put up by the England Lions. Easwaran scored 58 runs off 108 deliveries, smashing seven boundaries before being dismissed by Matthew Potts in the 37th over. Tilak Varma, who broke into India’s ODI and T20I teams on the back of a successful season in the 2023 Indian Premier League, failed to stamp his authority against the England Lions.

Even though two wickets fell rapidly, Padikkal continued playing and reached his fifth first-class century. The 23-year-old scored 105 runs from 126 balls, making 17 boundaries before Brydon Carse got him out in the 42nd over.

Rinku Singh, who had made a dominant start to his T20I career with the Indian team, failed to make an impression against the England Lions. The powerful left-handed batsman got out without scoring any runs, caught by Dan Mousley from a delivery bowled by Carse.

Rinku was added to the India A team for their second game against England Lions at the last minute by the BCCI. Earlier, Rinku was named only in the third A-tour game against the England Lions. The Indian batter was recently named as a reserve for the Indian team in the South Africa Test series. Rinku played as a fielder in the Test series but did not have an opportunity to bat.

Sarfaraz Khan played a brilliant knock to bring up his 14th first-class hundred after Rinku’s dismissal 1. He took the attack to the Lions, bringing up his century in quick time. He and Washington Sundar partnered to make 169 runs together. During this, Sundar also reached a half-century by scoring 57 runs off 132 balls. He hit seven boundaries and one six. Unfortunately, Upendra Yadav, the wicket-keeper batter, didn’t contribute any runs and got out for a duck by Carse.