Rishabh Pant’s much-awaited return to red-ball cricket lasted a mere 10 balls and 15 minutes but Musheer Khan’s resolute unbeaten hundred carried India B to a satisfactory 202 for seven against India A, on the opening day of the four-day Duleep Trophy contest here on Thursday. Before Musheer (105 not out, 227b, 10×4, 2×6) and Navdeep Saini (29 not out, 74b, 4×4, 1×6) 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 prudent 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 tender years.
When the right-hander entered the field at No 3 in the 14th over after the fall of Abhimayu Easwaran, the bowlers were right on top as a canopy of dark clouds hung over the Chinnaswamy.
Easwaran, usually a tightly organised batter, played a casual waft outside the off-stump off Avesh Khan and stumper Dhruv Jurel completed a superb diving catch just in front of KL Rahul at first slip.
Musheer had more than one worries 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 him walking down the track to nullify the movement was a rather curious sight. It was unconventional but was effective on the day.
However, even on a tough day, Musheer, who is making his Duleep Trophy debut, gave glimpse of his elegant self through a wonderful on-drive off Avesh that sped to the fence and a withering cut off left-arm seamer Khaleel Ahmed (2/39).
There was an element of power too when the right-hander hammered spinner Tanush Kotian for a couple of sixes in an over to move into the 90s.
Musheer received a slice of fortune too when Avesh dropped a regulation chance off his own bowling when the batter was on 69. India B was on 144 for seven then.
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.
Washington Sundar backed up too far to get run out as India B innings hit the free-fall button.
But Musheer and Saini helped India B to carve their best session of the day in the final passage of play to temporarily slip out of trouble.
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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