India warm up match: KL Rahul cracks sublime century against County Select XI, Ravindra Jadeja scores 75

Durham, July 20: India batsman KL Rahul warmed up nicely ahead of the five-Test series against England as the right-handed batsman cracked a sublime century on day one of the practice match against ECB's County Select XI at the Riverside Ground, Chester-le-Street in Durham on Tuesday (July 20).

The Karnataka cricketer walked into the middle at number four after India's top-three were dismissed cheaply under 25 overs. The Rohit Sharma-led Indian side had a disastrous start with their top three - Rohit (9), Mayank Agarwal (28) and Cheteshwar Pujara (21) - all getting dismissed after spending some time at the crease.

Rahul who is playing in the three-day match - which is awarded the first-class status - as a wicketkeeper-batsman had to walk in early and started batting with caution along with Hanuma Vihari. After the lunch break, Vihari too perished early.

The right-handed batsman then was joined by all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja and together the duo steadied the ship with a century partnership and revived Indian innings.

Rahul - who last played a first-class match 16 months ago - for his state team Karnataka against Bengal in Ranji Trophy semi-final in March 2020 impressed with his batting effort. He first notched up his fifty off 75 deliveries and later converted it into a century off 145 balls.

His century against in Durham was Rahul's 15th first-class ton for Indians against a county side. Rahul's last first-class century came off 149 deliveries and it also came on English soil in the Oval Test in September 2018.

Rahul was retired out for 101 (150 balls) soon after getting to the milestone. His knock was laced with 11 boundaries and a six. Meanwhile, his partner Jadeja too played a fine knock as he scored 75 off 146 deliveries. The Rajkot batsman was also looking in sublime touch and batted for 183 minutes and smashed five boundaries and a maximum.