India D captain Shreyas Iyer looked well-set for his second half-century of the ongoing Duleep Trophy 2024 but India A's left-arm spinner Shams Mulani got the better of him. Iyer misjudged the length and went for a non-existent pull shot only to be bamboozled by lack of bounce on Day 4 pitch and get bowled.
In the first session of Day 4's play, Mulani was operating from one end. He had already dismissed Devdutt Padikkal with an excellent delivery from around the stumps beating the bat on the drive. On the last ball of the 47th over, he was nutmegged by Mulani’s arm ball.
Iyer departed after scoring 41 runs from 55 balls including eight fours. He did the bulk of the scoring in the partnership with Ricky Bhui who went on to score his 19th first-class century.
Mulani also ended Sanju Samson's stay at the crease. Samson was batting with an attacking intent having hit three fours and as many sixes. He hit Mulani for a six as well. In the 61st over, Mulani tossed it up on the offstump line and the ball turned just enough to take a faint edge before reaching wicketkeeper Kumar Kushagra's gloves. Samson scored 40 runs from 45 balls.
How Iyer, Mulani fared earlier in the game?
In the previous innings, Mulani had got just one wicket of Harshit Rana. In the first two sessions on Day 4, he bagged three wickets. On the other hand, Iyer fell for a seven-ball duck. The Mumbai batter was dismissed by left-arm pacer Khaleel Ahmed. However, he contributed with the ball with the wicket of India A skipper Mayank Agarwal to break the opening partnership.
Iyer missing from Test squad
Earlier this month, Iyer did not find himself in the 16-member Test squad for the two-Test series against Bangladesh. In the first round of Duleep Trophy, he was dismissed for a single-digit score in the first innings by India B’s Vijaykumar Vyshak. In the second innings, he took the attacking approach and scored 54 runs from 44 balls.
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