Musheer Khan lights up Chinnaswamy with gritty century
Speaking to Wisden.com earlier this year, Musheer Khan had spoken about the Khan brothers’ immense appetite for runs. On Thursday, Musheer dug in deep to be India B’s saviour, even as the others crumbled around him, going on to score his third first-class ton. In the first session, he faced 52 balls, scoring just six runs.
With the ball jagging around, Musheer regularly stepped out to quicks in the beginning, negating the movement, before stonewalling his way to a gritty fifty.
There were a couple of close calls, but he continued to march on, moving from the seventies into the nineties with a couple of sixes. He now has two centuries and one double hundred in his last four first-class matches.
Musheer Khan is gearing up for the new domestic season with the Duleep Trophy and aims to make a mark, just as his father has guided him.@Aadya_Wisden sat down with him for an exclusive chat in March this year.
— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) September 5, 2024
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Akash Deep was spot-on with his lengths, bowling probing lines aided by lateral movement. On a track that had more than a tinge of green, he moved the ball in and out of Yashasvi Jaiswal in the first session, but could not find the edge.
The reward came later though: Rishabh Pant was snaffled by a diving Shubman Gill, and Nitish Kumar Reddy, making a comeback, lost his off-stump to a first-ball peach. He capped off his day with a freak run out of Washington Sundar, off a boot touch in his follow-through.
Sarfaraz Khan gave his brother company for a while, but fell before he could create much impact. When the middle order misfired – five batters fell for single-digits – it was Navdeep Saini who stepped up, giving Musheer company for over thirty overs.
Shivam Dube’s gentle pace tightened the screws in the middle: at one point, Jurel stood up to the stumps to keep Musheer in his crease. The spinners couldn’t have the same impact, with Tanush Kotian expensive, and Kuldeep Yadav failing to get any wickets.
Score at stumps, day one: India B 202-7 (Musheer Khan 105*, Akash Deep 2-28) vs India A.
Axar Patel's all-round show dominates in Anantapur
On a cloudy morning in Anantapur, India C captain Ruturaj Gaikwad won the toss and chose to bowl first against India D. His decision bore fruit in the very first over, as Atharva Taide pulled seamer Anshul Kamboj straight to the fielder at deep fine leg.
Things did not get much better for India D, as captain Shreyas Iyer departed in the sixth over, nicking behind off Vyshak Vijaykumar. Vyshak struck again in the same over, as Devdutt Padikkal nailed a drive on the up straight to the cover fielder. In the next over, Kamboj took his second wicket as Yash Dubey edged one to the keeper, leaving India D at 23-4.
Wickets continued to fall at regular intervals, and India D were reduced to 76-8 after Ricky Bhui, KS Bharat, Saransh Jain and Harshit Rana all headed back to the pavilion. But No.7 Axar Patel stood firm in the middle, and soon began to mount a counterattack.
Biding his time against the quicks, the left-hander went after spinners Manav Suthar and Hrithik Shokeen, scoring a combined 53 runs off 52 balls from their bowling.
With Arshdeep Singh for company, Axar hauled his side out of dire straits to a half-decent total of 164 before an excellent catch on the boundary from Suthar brought an end to his and the team's innings, on 86. The next highest score in India D's innings was 13.
India C openers Ruturaj Gaikwad and Sai Sudharsan started cautiously, but both were removed early as Sai Sudharsan nicked Harshit Rana down the leg side, and Gaikwad edged one to second slip off the same bowler. After four overs, Rana's figures read 4-4-0-2.
Axar would not be kept out of the action with the ball either. He induced a false shot from Aryan Juyal to take a simple caught and bowled, before castling Rajat Patidar with a superb arm-ball to leave India C at 43-4. Thereafter though, Baba Indrajith and Abishek Porel saw their side through to stumps without further damage.
Score at stumps, day one: India D 164 (Axar Patel 86, Vijaykumar Vyshak 3-19) vs India C 91-4 (Abishek Porel 32*, Harshit Rana 2-13). India C trail by 73 runs.
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