Mayank Agarwal, the opener who is one of the successful by-products of the system involving India-A tours, said it has been instrumental in bridging the gap between domestic and international cricket.
“India-A games really helped bridge the gap between domestic and international cricket because the kind of teams you are facing and kind of teams other countries are fielding for those games are top quality. So you know that you are almost playing international standard of bowling. It does help you bridge gap between domestic and international cricket,” Mayank said on Friday.
Mayank stressed on the importance of Kohli and Jadeja’s 225-run partnership in the context of the game.
“It has put us in driver’s seat and its not just the amount of runs but at what pace those runs have come has made a huge difference,” Mayank said. “It has given the team extra session and half which becomes very crucial. The partnership between Virat and Jadeja was fabulous and almost run a-ball 230-odd which is fabulous. If you are looking to win games, then you want to have that time to get 20 wickets.”
Maharaj taken for scan
The joy on becoming the second fastest South African spinner to 100 Test wickets was shortlived for Keshav Maharaj as an injury to his right shoulder while diving off his own bowling has put the left-armer’s further participation in the game in doubt.
“Not sure of his (injury). He has gone for an MRI (scan). As soon as we know the results, we will update you guys,” said Enoch Nkwe, interim team director.
On the match situation, he said: “We’ve got ourselves to blame, to be honest. This morning, it was conducive to seam bowling, we just didn’t hit our straps. We bowled a little too wide, we didn’t test the Indian batters enough. When we do that we just allowed the batters to get in and like I said it’s something we need to learn and learn very very quickly. And learn to bowl tight lines for a longer period of time so that we can hold some pressure,” he said.
