Musheer Khan’s unbeaten hundred carried India B to a satisfactory 202 for seven win against India A, on the opening day of the four-day Duleep Trophy contest on Thursday.
Whereas, Rishabh Pant’s much-awaited return to red-ball cricket lasted a mere 10 balls and 15 minutes.
Before Musheer (105 not out, 227b, 10x4, 2x6) and Navdeep Saini (29 not out, 74b, 4x4, 1x6) fought back for India B with a stand of 108 for the eighth wicket, they were in a huge hole at 94 for seven as ‘A’ skipper Shubman Gill made the wise choice of bowling first under overcast skies.
But Musheer, younger brother of Sarfaraz Khan (9), saved his side from a total collapse with an innings of rare maturity that belied his 19 young years.
Musheer had more than one worry to nullify. There was appreciable bounce, carry and movement for the India A pacers, who operated for a large part of the day.
But Musheer tackled each of those difficulties in his own way, as his walking down the track to nullify the movement was a rather curious sight. It was unconventional but was effective on the day.
The Mumbai lad, who also had a wonderful Under-19 World Cup and Ranji Trophy season, duly brought up his hundred off 205 balls with a single off Kuldeep Yadav, which he celebrated with gusto.
Saini too should be given a pat on his back for showing guts to stay along with Musheer as the India A bowlers lost their sting and direction in the final session of the day.
But before the Musheer-Saini combine dragged them back into the match, several ‘B’ batters were also careless in their shot selection and none exemplified it more than Pant.
His first red-ball stint since December 2022 ended when his effort to cream Akash Deep off a fuller delivery resulted in a leading edge, which Gill converted into a superb running catch.
Yashasvi Jaiswal looked in good touch during his 59-ball 30 that contained six well-executed boundaries, including a crisp cover drive off Khaleel, but a moment of indiscretion ended his stay.
Jaiswal looked to cut Khaleel past the fielder at point, but there was not enough space to play that shot as substitute Shashwat Kumar held on to a fine catch.
Akash then produced the ball of the day to dismiss Nitish Kumar Reddy — the delivery pitched on middle and off moved ever so slightly to knock down the bails as the batter walked back with a first-ball zilch.
Brief scores: India B 202/7 in 79 overs (Yashasvi Jaiswal 30, Musheer Khan 105*; Khaleel Ahmed 2/39, Akash Deep 2/28, Avesh Khan 2/42) vs India A.
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