Juneja's innings had a blend of flair, guts and grit even as his teammates, barring Jagadeesh (91, 9x4) and skipper Abhishek Nayar (57, 8x4, 1x6), failed to come up with any significant contribution. What was most impressive about Juneja's knock was his ability to change gears according to the need of the hour.
While Juneja, who began his day on 43, added 58 runs in the morning session and reached his century, the 22-year-old quickly dropped anchor once wickets began falling at the other end. The right-hander managed just 33 in the second session, and 44 in the final session to help the home side be on course of overhauling the Kiwis' first innings total.
Earlier in the day, the hosts carried on from where they left off as Jagadeesh and Juneja took full advantage of the placid pitch and a predictable Kiwi bowling. Juneja kicked off by hitting a series of boundaries that gave India A the much-needed initial momentum, before Jagadeesh joined in.
While Juneja essayed shots all round the park, Jagadeesh was happy to wait for loose deliveries. The duo seemed to be heading into a competition as to who would be the first to reach the three-figure landmark. Juneja, however, beat his partner to it. Just when it looked like they will take the home side to lunch, Jagadeesh was cleaned up by Douglas Bracewell (3/75).
Jagadeesh was understandably disappointed to have missed out on a much-deserved century. "I am happy to have scored runs in my first outing for India A, but was disappointed to have missed out on a century. I think it was important for both Juneja and me to put together a strong partnership that would help our team claw their way back into the match," said Jagadeesh at the end of the day's play.
Juneja has already started working on his game with an eye on the opposition for the upcoming Ranji Trophy season. "As soon as I got to know that our Ranji Trophy group this season has the likes of Mumbai, Delhi and Karnataka, who have a good pace attack, I knew the importance of working on my backfoot play. During the same time, I also received the news of my selection for the U-23 Asia Cup where we were playing Pakistan, which also had a good pace attack. So I looked to be prepared for it and things worked out well," Juneja said.
The 197-run stand between the two placed India A in a position of comfort at 213 for 3. Bracewell then accounted for Nayar, but not before the skipper had added 88 runs off 17.3 overs with Juneja. India A were just 29 runs away from the Kiwi total.
Brief scores: New Zealand A 437 vs India A 408 for 7 (M Juneja batting 178, V Jagadeesh 91, A Nayar 57; Bracewell 3-75, Astle 2-96)
0 comments:
Post a Comment