India B will head into the final day of its Duleep Trophy encounter against India A holding an ever-so-slight upper hand after it took a 240-run lead by stumps on day three at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Saturday.
After dismissing India A for 231 — an addition of just 97 runs to the overnight score of 134 for two — India B built on the 90-run first-innings lead, courtesy some manic hitting from Sarfaraz Khan (46, 36b, 7x4, 1x6) and Rishabh Pant (61, 47b, 9x4, 2x6).
By Stumps, it had reached 150 for six, with Nitish Reddy’s dismissal ushering the end of the day’s play.
Speedsters Akash Deep and Khaleel Ahmed had reduced India B to 22 for three, with Yashasvi Jaiswal, Abhimanyu Easwaran and first-innings hero Musheer Khan all back in the pavilion.
India A’s Akash Deep, celebrate the wicket of India B’s Abhimanyu Easwaran, during their Duleep Trophy match at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium (KSCA), in Bengaluru. | Photo Credit: Murali Kumar K/The Hindu
Jaiswal and Musheer were both caught down the leg side, with Dhruv Jurel completing two high-quality catches.
But Sarfaraz and Pant counterattacked with dazzling stroke-play. In the first over after tea, Sarfaraz caned Akash for five consecutive boundaries in the arc between deep backward point and deep square-leg.
The six over point off Khaleel was his shot of the day.
Pant began with a punched four through cover from the other end before despatching Khaleel for back-to-back boundaries in the third-man and extra-cover areas.
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A daring reverse ramp against Akash, that went between the ‘keeper and first slip, was proof enough that the 26-year-old had lost not an iota of his boldness and adventure despite being away from red-ball cricket for more than 20 months.
It was not that their respective innings were chanceless. Sarfaraz could have been out without scoring if substitute Tilak Varma had held on to a tough chance at cover.
Then, Khaleel dropped the 26-year-old off his own bowling when the batter was on 28. Jurel misjudged and fluffed a catch off Pant (when on 22) that was rightfully Kuldeep Yadav’s at fine-leg. But the 72-run association from just 56 balls halted India A in its tracks as it was making a comeback.
Sarfaraz was eventually out caught-behind while trying to cut an Avesh Khan delivery that was a tad too close. The speedster was thrilled and even gave Sarfaraz a fiery send-off, the kind of manufactured aggression this format of Duleep Trophy can do with.
Pant, though, continued his onslaught. Kuldeep was smashed for two fours — straight down the ground and behind square — and then lofted over long-on for a sweet maximum.
India B’s Rishabh Pant, plays a shot, during the Duleep Trophy match against India A, at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium (KSCA), in Bengaluru. | Photo Credit: Murali Kumar K/The Hindu
He soon brought up his half-century off 34 balls with a sharp single. But just when it seemed that a hundred was very much in the realm of possibility, he top-edged a sweep off Tanush Kotian into the hands of the short fine-leg fielder.
Earlier in the day, India-A faltered from a promising position. From 134 for two at the start, it was down to 169 for five. K.L. Rahul, who had patiently worked his way through to 37 from 110 balls, tried a paddle sweep off Washington Sundar and was bowled. If not for Kotian’s 32 (71b, 4x4), India-A would have been well and truly out of the contest.
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