Tom Haynes took charge of England Lions’ comeback after Karun Nair’s double century
Haines hundred fuels Lions response after Karun Nair’s 204, on the second day of the unofficial Test match being played in Canterbury, the match between India A and England Lions has reached an exciting turn. In this high scoring match, while Karun Nair played a brilliant innings of 204 runs for India A, England Lions opener Tom Haynes made a great comeback for the team by scoring a century.
The events so far in this match have made it clear that Haines hundred fuels Lions response after Karun Nair’s 204 has become a match in which the batsmen have completely dominated the bowlers.
Karun Nair’s brilliant innings laid the foundation for a big innings
India A started the second day with 409/3 and continued to bat brilliantly. Karun Nair batted with full responsibility and scored 204 runs in 281 balls. His strike rotation and timing were amazing. He completed his double century by pulling a short ball to fine leg.
Dhruv Jurel also batted aggressively and scored 94 runs but fell to Ajeet Dale 6 runs short of a century. Nitish Reddy, who was making a comeback after a poor IPL season, failed to score big and was caught by the wicketkeeper off Eddie Jack.
The innings ended in a heartwarming manner with Shardul Thakur scoring a quick 27 and Harsh Dubey got out on 32. India A scored 533 before lunch and were eventually all out for 557. Zaman Akhtar and Josh Hull took three wickets each.
Tom Haines’ century shines in Lions’ comeback
When England Lions came out to bat, Anshul Kamboj gave India A a great start by clean bowling Ben McKinney in the opening overs. But this is where the true colours of Haines hundred fuel Lions response after Karun Nair’s 204 came out.
Tom Haines scores his 15th first class ton as England Lions eat into the deficit.
— Cricbuzz (@cricbuzz) May 31, 2025
It's been tough work for the India 'A' bowlers and they haven't been helped by a couple of dropped catches pic.twitter.com/OgrxFAhbsm
Haynes completely balanced the game by making two century partnerships first with Emiliano Gay and then with Max Holden. He showed a great combination of patience and attack in his innings. While Gay targeted the spinners with sweep shots, Holden quickly completed his half-century and also hit the first six of the innings.
Although Gay got out while playing sweep after a 109-run partnership, Haynes finally completed a brilliant century after getting a reprieve on 83 and returned unbeaten at 103* by the end of the day.
It was a challenging day for the bowlers
The Indian bowlers did not get much help on this flat pitch. Anshul Kamboj was the only successful bowler who gave the initial breakthrough. Mukesh Kumar and Nitish Reddy were seen struggling with their line-length.
When spinner Harsh Dubey was brought in, the left-handed batsmen put him under pressure with sweeps. At the same time, Thakur had to pay a heavy price for dropping Haynes’ catch.
Scores so far
👉 India A – 557 (Karun Nair 204, Jurel 94, Sarfraz 92; Akhtar 3/73, Hull 3/72)
👉 England Lions – 237/2 (Haynes 103*, Holden 64*, Kamboj 1/24)
👉 India A still have a lead of 320 runs.
Conclusion
This match is now turning into a high scoring thriller with both teams displaying excellent batting. Haines hundred fuels Lions response after Karun Nair’s 204 has become the most talked about moment of this Test. The coming days will decide whether India A is able to make this lead decisive or whether England Lions’ comeback will be a complete success.
Also Read : Karun Nair Closed in on a Double Ton to Put India A in Command