Melbourne: Australia pacer Scott Boland is eyeing to build pressure on KL Rahul in the upcoming second four-day game between Australia A and India A at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Rahul and reserve wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel left India early to take part in India A matches before getting the taste of a real challenge Down Under.
Rahul played the first Test against New Zealand in Bengaluru before fit Shubman Gill replaced him in the remaining two matches of the series.
With captain Rohit Sharma likely to miss the opening matches of the series due to personal reasons, Rahul has a chance to come in contention for the five-Test series in Australia.
Boland is excited for the opportunity to challenge Rahul on bouncy Australian pitches and dominate him on the tour.
“I was lucky to bowl to him in a Test over in India a couple of years ago but it’ll be nice to play against him in our backyard. He’s a world-class player but someone I think we can get on top of pretty early and hopefully stay on top of him for the majority of the summer,” ESPNcricinfo quoted the pacer as saying.
“There’s so much more bounce here, more seam. The way they’ll structure their team will be completely different to what you see over in India,” he added.
Most of India’s Test squad will not get a full match in Australia ahead of the first Test, as the planned intra-squad game with India A has been modified to match simulations, allowing greater flexibility in their preparation.
Boland, who averages 12.21 in Tests at home, was expecting to play a Test last summer but missed out on a chance due to the longevity of the pace trio led by captain Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood as not a single match was stretched to full five days.
Boland has been working his way back from injury this season after a heel issue led to his county deal with Durham being cancelled. Last month, he bowled 28 overs in the Sheffield Shield against New South Wales. Boland mentioned that he was under “a little bit of restriction” regarding his overs in that match, but he doesn’t expect to face any limitations for Australia A.
“It felt like a long six months between games. Remember being out on the ground in the Shield game and was just really happy to be back playing cricket. Haven’t had too many breaks for injury throughout my career so was different going through all the rehab,” Boland said.
“Luckily (we’ve) got really good physios and support staff at Cricket Victoria. So lucky I could lean on them, because few times I was like, ‘(are) any of these things getting better? But it’s all come good now and feeling really good.”
–IANS
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