Ind A v Ind D (Twitter)
After Atharva Taide fell early in the piece for yet another instance, it was the perfect concoction of an enterprising knock from Ricky Bhui and a tolerantly resolute stint courtesy of Yash Dubey which let the runs flow at a decent rate without further damage to end the third day’s play. With India A holding the edge ahead of Day 4, it was to be seen how the batters of India D would approach the fourth innings.
Just as Dubey seemed relatively comfortable in the middle, an unfortunate run-out saw the back of him after a firm push by Bhui deflected off the willow of Dubey who was just trying to avoid getting in the way of the ball. Hardly two overs from then, Shams Mulani inflicted yet another blow to India D, this time directly as a perfectly loopy delivery from the top-scorer for India A in their first innings sneaked by the inside edge of the bat of Padikkal, who was his side’s top-scorer in their first innings.
Also Check: Watch: Devdutt Padikkal undone by Shams Mulani’s sneaky ripper
Unlike the first innings where Iyer got dismissed for a seven-ball duck, he looked at significantly more ease as he struck a couple of boundaries off each of Mulani and Aaquib Khan’s overs to blossom quite promisingly in the middle. However, a wild swipe across the line proved to be the Iyer’s undoing as that particular dismissal was the third instance in the innings Mulani was involved in the dismissal of an India D batter. Going into the Lunch, India A were still on top despite Bhui looking rock-solid for his 85 with Sanju Samson unbeaten on 17.
The leading run-getter of the previous edition of the Ranji Trophy brought up his 19th first-class century in fine style. However, he could not manage to build on the ton as he departed for 113 after a beautiful setup by Tanush Kotian which eventually led to Riyan Parag scooping an extremely well-judged match at first slip. It was all down to a matter of how many extra overs after Saurabh Kumar got outdone by a quick ripper by Tanush Kotian to be trapped in front.
With nothing to lose, much like the first innings, Harshit Rana launched a few hefty blows to the boundary. However, it was a case of one too many as he miscued a slog sweep which was pouched by Shashwat Rawat. The final piece in India D’s struggle was removed via Riyan Parag’s second delivery in the match as one of the two centurions for India A in the second innings, Pratham Singh, completed an easy catch at forward short-leg to grant India A their first points with a dominating 186-run victory.