Musheer Khan played a lone ranger as India B finished Day 1 on 202 for 7 in their opening Duleep Trophy fixture against India A at Chinnaswamy Stadium on Thursday. The three seamers – Khaleel Ahmed, Avesh Khan and Akash Deep – shared six wickets between them.
Wickets fell at regular intervals at the other end, but Musheer wasn’t ruffled. The best part of his batting was he played the ball late, allowing it to come to him. He also showed the required temperament to forget the previous outcome and concentrate on the next ball.
Eventually, in the 52nd over, he was rewarded for his efforts, as he reached his fifty with a single off Tanush Kotian. Navdeep Saini gave him good company as the duo added more than 100 runs for the eighth wicket.
After compiling his fifty, Musher took the aggressive route against the spinners. He danced down the deck and used the sweep to good effect against both Kotian and Kuldeep Yadav. In the 73rd over, he crossed the coveted three-figure mark with a single off Kuldeep.
Earlier, right from the time India A won the toss and opted to field, it was quite clear that the pace bowlers would dominate the proceedings on a track that had a tinge of green. Despite the assistance on offer for the pacemen, Yashasvi Jaiswal impressed during his brief stay, scoring 30 off 59 deliveries.
The salient feature of his knock was his ability to leave deliveries in the fourth stump channel while facing Khaleel. He showed measured judgment alongside a few shots off the back foot that raced away through square of the wicket on the off-side. He also played a few drives.
Unfortunately for India B and Jaiswal, the southpaw lost his concentration and got out to a soft dismissal, with Khaleel bagging his scalp. By then, Avesh had also accounted for Abhimanyu Easwaran, India B skipper. After the lunch break, Sarfaraz Khan was done in by a nip-backer from Avesh, while Shubman Gill grabbed a brilliant, running catch off Deep to send the dangerous Rishabh Pant back to the hut. Nitish Reddy was dismissed by a peach from Deep that swung in and then straightened to shatter the timber.
Washington Sundar, who replaced Nitish, was run out at the non-striker’s end. Deep got some boot on it and the ball ricocheted back on to the stumps. Avesh made it seven down when he forced Sai Kishore to edge one to the cordon.
Just when it seemed India A were on top, Musheer and Navdeep pulled things back.
Brief scores: India B 202/7 in 79 overs (Musheer Khan 105 not out, Navdeep Saini 29 not out; Akash Deep 2/28, Khaleel Ahmed 2/39, Avesh Khan 2/42) vs India A