LUCKNOW, Sept. 26 -- A total of 532 runs at an average of 53.20, including two centuries and three half centuries, in the five-match Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy Test series in England this summer helped stylish batter KL Rahul emerge as one of the standout performers of Team India in the longer version of the game yet another time. In fact, the series marked Rahul's highest run tally in a Test series and also most runs by an opener in England since Graeme Smith's 714 in 2003. He forged a strong opening partnership with Yashasvi Jaiswal and showed determination and a strong mindset in challenging conditions. Rahul's style of batting has been a treat to watch for anyone and even on Thursday he was no different as he smashed a fine unbeaten half-century ahead of the two-Test home series against the West Indies starting October 2 at Ahmedabad. Playing just a one-off unofficial four-day Test for India A against Australia A, Rahul retired hurt during India A' second innings here on Thursday, at the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium on the penultimate day of the match. He was batting on 74 when he left the crease and walked back into the dug out along with the physio. "He (Rahul) felt fever at that time so he decided to retire from the match today," said one of the local match officials later. The 33-year-old was leading the home team's attempt to chase down Australia's target of 412. The right-handed batter had a disappointing outing in the first innings, registering a 24-ball 11, before being dismissed by Will Sutherland. But on Thursday, it was altogether a different Rahul on the mixed soil pitch as he tackled all seven bowlers of Australia A quite well, hitting them with consummate ease for nine boundaries in his 163-minute stay in the middle. He along with Narayan Jagadeesan added 85 runs for the opening wicket before stitching together 77 runs for the second wicket with Sai Sudharsan. After Rahul left the crease, comeback man for the Test series against West Indies, Devdutt Padikkal walked in at number four, but he could not make use of the opportunity, falling to Todd Murphy for just five. Jagadeesan also fell prey to Murphy after being caught by Oliver Peake after hitting 55-ball 36, which contained five hits to the fence. Sudharsan, who has already scored two half centuries in the series, including the one in the first innings of the ongoing match, once again showed his class, finishing the day with an unbeaten 44 alongside night watchman Manav Suthar (1) as India A ended the day at 169/2 in 41 overs. Now, they need 243 runs to win with eight wickets in hand on the final day on Friday. Earlier, it was a disciplined turn around by the India A bowlers in the day after the Australia A resumed at the overnight score of 16/3. On the very second ball of the Day 3, Suthar got the overnight batter Peake (1) caught by Padikkal, reducing the rivals to 17/4. But skipper Nathan McSweeney didn't let India A bowlers to shake his confidence, consolidating teams' response with a 90-run partnership alongside Josh Philippe, who before being caught by Jagadeesan off Suthar scored a 48-ball 50 with the help of eight hits to the fence. McSweeney, who had already made 74 in the first innings, did not find much support from the lower order as the frontline India bowlers shared the wickets among them. Suthar took 3/50 to finish the match haul with 8/157. Gurnoor Brar removed Jack Edwards (10) and Will Sutherland (0) to finish with 3/42, whereas Mohd Siraj and concussion substitute Yash Thakur shared four wickets between them. Australia A's keeper-batter Josh Philippe is hopeful of teams' chances of winning the match against India A on Friday as he believes that there is a fair bit of rough now and there's certainly a lot of spin and bounce on the pitch. "So yeah, it's been a really good challenge. A couple early wickets would be nice. I think it's quite challenging to start. All the spin has gone really well today. So we just sort of need that one breakthrough early tomorrow," he said after the penultimate day's play on Thursday. India A 194 (S Sudharsan 75, Thornton 4/36, Murphy 2/38) and 169/2 (Rahul 74, Sudharsan 44*, Murphy 2/49) vs Australia A 420 (Murphy 76, McSweeney 74, Suthar 5/107) and 185 (McSweeney 85, Brar 3/42, Suthar 3/50)....