Abhimanyu Easwaran hammers his 31st half-century in FC cricket: Stats
What's the story
In the second unofficial Test at County Ground, Northampton, India A ended Day 3 on a strong note with a lead of 184 runs.
The day was highlighted by a brilliant four-wicket haul from left-arm pacer Khaleel Ahmed and half-centuries from KL Rahul and Abhimanyu Easwaran.
India A captain Easwaran, who suffered an early dismissal in the 1st innings, made his bat talk in his 2nd outing.
He scored a valiant 80-run knock as India A managed 163/4 at stumps on Day 3.
Batting resilience
Partnership between Rahul, Easwaran helps India A
In their second innings, India A lost Yashasvi Jaiswal early but Rahul and Easwaran steadied the innings with an 88-run partnership for the second wicket.
Rahul, who scored a century in the first innings, hit nine boundaries in his fluent knock of 51 off 64 balls.
Easwaran also looked solid on his way to a half-century before falling to Chris Woakes (2/31).
Easwaran's 80 was laced with 10 fours. He faced 92 balls. He fell just ahead of stumps.
Numbers
7th fifty for India A in FC cricket
With scores of 11 and 80 in this match, Easwaran has raced to 7,841 runs in First-Class cricket from 103 matches (177 innings), as per ESPNcricinfo.
The Bengal batter smashed his 31st FC fifty (100s: 27). Notably, this was Easwaran's 7th fifty for India A in FC cricket (100s: 6).
He owns 1,865 runs for India A at an average of 39.68.
Performance
How did England Lions' innings pan out?
England Lions started the day at 192/3 but were bowled out for 327 in their first innings.
Khaleel Ahmed was the star of the show, picking up four wickets for 70 runs.
He dismissed skipper James Rew and George Hill off successive deliveries to trigger a collapse in the morning session.
He also got Chris Woakes caught behind, significantly reducing the Lions before lunch.
Nitish Kumar Reddy ended Farhan Ahmed's resistance after he scored a dogged 24 off 87 balls.
Josh Tongue and Eddie Jack made useful contributions as well.