Musheer Khan made the biggest impact on Day 1 of the first-round matches of Duleep Trophy 2024 on Thursday. The young Mumbai batter smashed an unbeaten century to help India B avoid embarrassment against India A but the star cricketers Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer and Kuldeep Yadav failed to impress.
Bowers dominated both fixtures on Day 1 with a total of 21 wickets fell in Bengaluru and Anantapur. Shreyas Iyer-led India D's first innings collapsed on 164 against Ruturaj Gaikwad's India C with the latter losing four wickets for 91 at the end of the day's play.
In the India A vs India B clash, Rishabh Pant was under scanner as he was playing his first red-ball cricket match since December 2022. Pant is tipped to make his return to Tests in the upcoming Bangladesh series but failed to make any impact with a ball against India A.
Pant scored 7 runs off 10 balls before losing his wicket to Akash Deep with Shubman Gill taking a brilliant catch. Captain Abhimanyu Easwaran and star opener Yashasvi Jaiswal also failed to contribute as India B lost their first 7 wickets with just 94 runs on the scoreboard.
But the 19-year-old Musheer, batting at No.3 position, smashed a sensational century after taking some time to settle and rescued India B to 202/7 in 79 overs at the end of Day 1's play at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
Musheer partnered with pacer Navdeep Saini to pull off an unbeaten 108-run stand for the eighth wicket. Pacers Khaleel Ahmed, Akash Depp and Avesh Khan claimed two wickets each for India A but the ace spinner Kuldeep Yadav proved costly without any success in his 14 overs.
India A vs India B Full Scorecard
Meanwhile, the fast bowlers dominated the India C vs India D fixture at Rural Development Trust Stadium in Anantapur. Captain Shreyas Iyer and left-handed Devdutt Padikkal failed to make any impact with a bat as India D witnessed an embarrassing collapse after impressive spells from India C bowlers Vijaykumar Vyshak and Himanshu Chauhan.
Axar Patel played a valiant knock of 86 runs off just 118 balls to take India D to a 164 total in 48.3 overs. Axar also made an impact with a ball when Ruturaj Gaikwad-led India C batters took the field. The star pacer Harshit Rana dismissed openers Ruturaj and Sai Sudharsan early in the innings and then Axar bagged big wickets of Rajat Patidar and Aryan Juyal to put India C in the dominant position.
Tamil Nadu's star batter Baba Indrajith and young wicketkeeper Abishek Porel then added unbeaten 48 runs for the fifth wicket to charge India C to 91/4 in 33 overs at the end of Day 1's play.
