Navdeep Saini, a promising fringe pacer, made a significant impact with a dominant new-ball spell, enabling India B to contain India A's batting at 134 for two after the second day of their Duleep Trophy match. India B needed their bowlers to carry on the excellent effort of Musheer Khan (181, 373b, 16x4, 5x6) who powered ‘B’ to 321 in their first innings.
KL Rahul (23, 80 balls) and Riyan Parag (27, 49 balls) are at the crease at stumps, with India A in arrears by 187 runs.
Saini who has been out of international cricket since the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2021 in Australia got rid of India A skipper Shubman Gill (25) and his opening partner Mayank Agarwal (36). The 31-year-old speedster got his first breakthrough by picking up skipper Gill who was playing on 25 runs.
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After that, the speedster picked up Mayank Agarwal who last featured in international cricket in the 2022 Pink Ball Test against Sri Lanka. He was looking comfortable. His cover drive off Saini was a lovely piece of timing, but the right-hander soon fell to the same bowler, jabbing a down-the-leg delivery to wicketkeeper batter Rishabh Pant.
Pant, who was tidy behind the stumps, made an acrobatic dive to his left to complete a wonderful catch to send back Agarwal.
Wicketkeeper batter KL Rahul took 14 balls to get off the mark and he was saved by a drop catch at the second slip by Nitish off Mukesh when the batter was on three. Parag and Rahul, who looked far more comfortable as the innings progressed, have added 68 runs for the unbroken third wicket so far.
Musheer, who resumed from overnight 105, added 76 more runs to his individual score, following the template from the first day of him controlling a large chunk of strike. Saini too gave him solid support, reaching his second First-Class fifty, as India B went through the second successive session without losing a wicket, while adding 88 runs off 30 overs.
But Musheer’s 484-minute stay at the crease ended in the second over after lunch when he clanged Kuldeep Yadav to Parag in the deep. It also signalled the end of their stunning 205-run partnership, the highest for the eighth wicket in Duleep Trophy history. India B are currently trailing by 187 runs.
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