AUS A vs IND A 2024: KL Rahul, Abhimanyu Easwaran fail in audition for Perth Test

India captain Rohit Sharma is expected to miss the first Test against Australia at Perth Stadium, starting November 22. In his absence, there is a hunt for an opener in the Indian camp as both Abhimanyu Easwaran and KL Rahul were tried in the unofficial Test against Australia A, but the duo failed miserably.

The Bengal opener, who hit four back-to-back centuries in domestic cricket, was deservingly called up for the series but he is yet to any impact. In the first unofficial Test, Easwaran registered scores of 7 and 12 while in the second game, he failed to open his tally after ace pacer Michael Neser got the better of him.

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Rahul, on the other hand, hasn’t opened in red-ball cricket since 2022. He batted in the middle order in the meantime and has done a decent job before getting dropped from the second Test against New Zealand in Pune. He warmed the bench in the Mumbai Test as well. However, he could not make a mark either, departing for only four runs as Scott Boland picked up his wicket in the second over to reduce India to 9/3.

The performance of both Rahul and Easwaran would bother the team management. India suffered a 3-0 defeat to New Zealand at home and to make it to the finals of the World Test Championship, the team can’t afford to lose any game in Australia.

If Rohit confirms his unavailability, it will be a massive blow to the Indian team. Moreover, the possible replacements have nOt had a good time in Australia so far. The entire Indian batting unit struggled barring Dhruv Jurel, who played a brilliant knock of 80 runs. Courtesy of his knock, India posted 161 runs in the first innings.