The 2024 edition of the Duleep Trophy got underway on September 5. Here are all the updates from day four of the first round.
Of the two matches that began simultaneously, one ended in three days as India C triumphed by four wickets in Anantapur. All the attention on day four, therefore, was on the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
India B began the day on 150-6, having lost Nitish Kumar Reddy off the final ball of day three. Three overs into day four, the seventh went down as Akash Deep got rid of Sai Kishore. Akash then knocked over Washington Sundar's off stump with a peach.
Deep completed his five-wicket haul when Navdeep Saini skied a short ball to Dhruv Jurel, giving the wicketkeeper his seventh catch of the innings. The innings finally folded for 184, giving a victory target of 275, in two and a half sessions.
Watch: Rishabh Pant joins opposition team huddle before start of play in Duleep Trophy
India A were rocked early in their chase, as Mayank Agarwal edged Yash Dayal to Nitish Kumar Reddy to second slip after just eight balls. Riyan Parag then walked to the crease and essayed more a few good-looking attacking shots before departing for an 18-ball 31. Shubman Gill was next to go, caught behind before Jurel followed suit for a golden duck.
At lunch, the score read 76-4, another 199 required for victory. Tanush Kotian, promoted to No.6, was dismissed off the first ball after lunch to leave his side five down.
KL Rahul then began to batten down the hatches as Shivam Dube departed next, caught by Musheer Khan after Reddy induced a leading edge. At 99-6, Rahul was joined by Kuldeep Yadav as the pair ground things out until tea, taking their side to 132-6. Rahul reached his half-century just before the interval, to raucous cheers from the crowd at his home ground.
Tests: 1492 runs @ 35.92
— Wisden India (@WisdenIndia) September 8, 2024
ODIs: 2328 runs @ 58.20
T20Is: 578 runs @ 30.42
Happy birthday, Shubman Gill! 🎂🥳#ShubmanGill #India #Cricket pic.twitter.com/Dw14KRMrbD
Early on in the third session, Rahul remained intent on blocking out the bowlers, but made sure to punish bad deliveries. A moment of poor judgment resulted in his dismissal, as an attempted rasping cut shot only went through to the keeper, off a Mukesh Kumar off-cutter.
Kuldeep continued to defend, but at the other end Akash wielded his bat like a sword. He bludgeoned four sixes in an entertaining 43 off 41 balls, but could only delay the inevitable. He was eventually run out by a sharp effort from Musheer at short leg, after attempting to fend off a Navdeep Saini bouncer.
His effort with the bat, in addition to figures of 4-60 and 5-56 in this match will have done no harm to Akash's chances of receiving a call-up to India's Test squad for the upcoming home series against Bangladesh.
Final score: India B 321 (Musheer Khan 181, Akash Deep 4-60) and 184 (Rishabh Pant 61, Akash Deep 5-56) BEAT India A 231 (KL Rahul 37, Navdeep Saini 3-60) and 198 (KL Rahul 57, Yash Dayal 3-50) by 76 runs.
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