England Lions will be one of the innumerable stops that out-of-form opener KL Rahul will encounter in his road to redemption as he gears up to play for India A in the first unofficial Test in Wayanad, Kerala.

The match will also feature two of India’s quickest bowlers in young Avesh Khan and the not-so-young Varun Aaron, who will be keenly watched by the national selection committee.

Virat Kohli said after the Australia series win that he wants three more fast bowlers which will broaden the base of the current pool of speed merchants for India. That’s quite possibly the reason why injury-prone Aaron, not known for his consistency, has been recalled. The Delhi pacer has had a stint in county cricket for Leicestershire.

It’s all about sheer speed for Avesh, on the other hand, and the youngster has intimidated the domestic batsmen during the season.

Focus on Rahul

Rahul hasn’t exactly set the stage on fire during the limited-overs games having come back from an interim suspension for his sexist comments on a television chat show. He had scores of 13, 42 and 0 against England Lions in three List A games but coach Rahul Dravid backed him to do well soon.

“I have no doubt that he has got quality and ability. He is playing four-day games as well and he has shown that he can succeed at the international level in all three formats,” he added.

Dravid’s India A clinched the five-match limited overs series 4-1 on Thursday. “He has got a hundred in T20, ODI and Test and not many batsmen have that record. He is a proven performer and I am not too worried about his form,” the India A coach said.

India chief coach Ravi Shastri had recently made it clear that he would like Rahul to play a lot of A games in order to regain form.

The India ‘A’ team led by Ankit Bawne, comprising domestic performers, will be favourites against the Lions, who have not had the best of time on the tour so far.

Kerala all-rounder Jalaj Saxena finds a place after a strong Ranji Trophy season as has Siddhesh Lad along with spinners Shahbaz Nadeem and Mayank Markande.

While focus is naturally going to be on Rahul, the India A team boasts other in-form batsmen in Abhimanyu Easwaran (Bengal) and Priyank Panchal (Gujarat) who have scored plenty of runs in Ranji Trophy this season. Easwaran comes into this match on the back of two massive scores in his last two games (183* and 201*) while Panchal scored four centuries for Gujarat in the season.

Billings to lead England

The visiting Englishmen, on the other hand, have had a tough time, being hammered in the five-match ODI series, losing 1-4 and will look for redemption.

Captain Sam Billings, who played for Chennai Super Kings in last year’s IPL, has been in good form and will look to carry it into the longer format too. The young team includes players with Test experience, including Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope.

Pacer Jamie Overton has impressed with his performances and will be assisted by Tom Bailey. The spinners-Danny Briggs and Amar Vardi will have a big role to play on a track expected to be bowler-friendly on the evidence of the recent Ranji matches at the venue featuring Kerala.

Teams:

India ‘A’: Ankit Bawne (Captain), KL Rahul, AR Easwaran, Priyank Panchal, Ricky Bhui, Siddhesh Lad, K S Bharat (WK), Jalaj Saxena, Shahbaz Nadeem, Mayank Markande, Navdeep Saini, Sharadul Thakur, Avesh Khan, Varun Aaron.

England Lions: Sam Billings (captain), Dominic Bess, Danny Briggs, Tom Bailey, Ben Duckett, Lewis Gregory, Zak Chappell, Sam Hain, Will Jacks, Jamie Overton, Tom Moores, Ollie Pope, Jamie Porter, Alex Davies, Amar Vardi.

(With PTI inputs)