Vizianagaram: It was double delight for young K L Rahul as the Karnataka player struck a fluent century in a Ranji Trophy game before earning a recall to the Indian cricket team for the second Test against England.
The fit-again opener on Tuesday added to India's squad for the Test starting November 17 in Visakhapatnam.
He scored 106 off 131 balls, decorating his innings with 13 boundaries and four sixes against Rajasthan at the Dr PVG Raju ACA Sports Complex.
Owing to Rahul's knock and a 63 by Mayank Agarwal, Karnataka put themselves in the driver's seat in the Group B game, by setting Rajasthan an improbable target of 525.
At stumps on the third and penultimate day, Rajasthan, at 118/6, were on the verge of suffering a drubbing. They trailed by 407 runs with only four wickets remaining in their second innings.
Karnataka had scored 374 in their first innings, with Rahul (76) and Mayank (81) making the bulk of the runs, after opting to bat. They bowled out Rajasthan for 148 but chose to not enforce follow-on, declaring their second innings at 298/6 in 62.1 overs.
Seamer R Vinay Kumar, who returned figures of 4/28 in the first innings, has already taken three wickets on the third day, while S Aravind, who also had a four-wicket haul, picked up two wickets