Bengaluru: Mumbai Youngster Musheer Khan slammed an unbeaten 105 and staged a remarkable recovery act for India B on Day One of their Duleep Trophy first-round match against India A at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on Thursday.
India B had tons of established batters like Yashasvi Jaiswal, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Sarfaraz Khan (Musheer’s elder brother) and Rishabh Pant. But an impressive Musheer outshined all of them to grab the spotlight on the opening day of the competition through his third first-class century. His unbeaten knock of 105 was laced with ten fours and two sixes in an outstanding display of gritty batting combined with an unflinching resolve to take India B from 94/7 to 202/7 in 79 overs at the end of the day’s play.
Apart from bringing up his maiden Duleep Trophy century in 205 balls, Musheer also stitched an unbroken 108-run stand with Navdeep Saini (29 not out) for the eighth wicket. Saini turned out to be the perfect foil for Musheer as the youngster went about his way of scoring runs – grinding it out against pacers when they were dominant and once spinners came in, he was free-flowing in hitting boundaries.
Electing to bowl first, India A had an early edge as the ball was doing a bit under overcast skies for its pacers, who stuck to a disciplined line and length for the first hour. Avesh Khan got India A their first breakthrough when he had Abhimanyu Easwaran slashing hard at a wide delivery and Dhruv Jurel leapt to his right and grabbed the catch nearly in front of the first slip.
Yashasvi Jaiswal was superb in timing his drives and flicks while hitting six boundaries in his knock of 30 before he couldn’t keep the cut low and was caught at backward point off Khaleel Ahmed. Despite Musheer holding one end doggedly against a stern examination from the pacers, India B suffered a batting meltdown in the second session.
Sarfaraz was trapped lbw by Avesh, while Rishabh Pant, playing a first-class match for the first time since December 2022, miscued a loft and was caught by Shubman Gill running backwards from mid-off to complete an excellent catch, as the batter departed for seven.
Nitish Reddy, Washington Sundar and R. Sai Kishore too fell cheaply as India B were reduced to 94/7. Amidst the ruins, Musheer ground it out to get his half-century in 118 balls and once Kuldeep Yadav came in, he was quick to hit him for four boundaries.
The attacking approach continued against other spinners as Musheer, who made his first-class debut in December 2022, finally got his hundred and celebrated animatedly, as India B dugout gave him a standing ovation, with Sarfaraz hailing him by holding his arms aloft.
Brief scores:
India B 202/7 in 79 overs (Musheer Khan 105 not out, Yashasvi Jaiswal 30; Akash Deep 2-28, Khaleel Ahmed 2-39) against India A
(IANS)
