KL Rahul’s gumption, which helped him pile a patient fifty, found no resonance among his colleagues as India B pacers led by Yash Dayal pushed India A to a 76-run defeat on the fourth and final day of their Duleep Trophy match on Sunday. Chasing 275, India A were bundled out for 198 in their second innings as left-arm seamer Dayal (3/50), with able support from his colleagues Mukesh Kumar (2/50) and Navdeep Saini (2/41), led the India B attack. Rahul top-scored for ‘A’ with a 51.

In the first session of the day, India B made 184 all out in their second essay to muster a handy overall lead of 274.

The India A chase began on a shaky note as Mayank Agarwal departed in the second over itself, wafting Dayal away from his body to Nitish Kumar Reddy, who made a wonderful diving catch at second slip.

That brought Riyan Parag to the middle and the right-hander followed the path set on Saturday by Rishabh Pant and Sarfaraz Khan.

Parag took on the bowlers and pacer Mukesh bore the brunt of his aggression, getting smoked for two sixes and the second maximum touched the roof of the Chinnaswamy Stadium over the mid-wicket region.

Parag added 48 runs for the second with a rather subdued Shubman Gill, who was dropped by Nitish Reddy at slips off Mukesh on 16, and 31 came off the former’s bat in just 18 balls.

But the approach was tough to sustain considering the kind of assistance the bowlers were getting here, and soon his massive hoick off Dayal took an edge off Parag’s bat en route to stumper Rishabh Pant.

Gill (21) departed soon, falling to Saini for the second time in the match and on this occasion, he edged the pacer to Pant.

Dhruv Jurel poked Dayal well outside off-stump to Yashasvi Jaiswal at gully, as India batters perished to a combination of bowlers’ persistence on that channel and their own carelessness.

They took the lunch at a queasy 76 for four that soon transpired into 99 for six after the dismissal of Shivam Dube and Tanush Kotian, an hour into the lunch.

However, Rahul batted out 180 minutes 121 balls and milked 42 runs for the seventh wicket with Kuldeep Yadav to delay the inevitable.

The standout shot in an otherwise dour innings was a whistling on drive off Mukesh that fetched him a boundary.

But Mukesh had his revenge soon when Rahul feathered a cut off him to Pant, who completed five catches in this innings, soon after reaching his fifty with a single off Saini.

It effectively signalled the end of the road of for India A, though Akash Deep (43, 42b, 3×4, 4×6) gave a few moments of fun with a cavalier innings.

But beyond the entertainment value, it always was a case of when more than if.

Earlier, resuming from their overnight score of 150 for six India B could only 34 runs more to the total before getting bundled out.

Pacer Akash, whom Sarfaraz Khan carted around for five fours in a row the previous day, found his mojo to add the scalps of Washington Sundar and Saini to complete a five-wicket haul (5/56).

The spell will keep his name floating among the contenders when the selectors sit together soon to pick up squad for two-match Test series against Bangladesh.

The audacity of Rishabh Pant, who made a fifty, and Sarfaraz Khan helped India B waddle past persistent India A pacers to post a momentum grabbing second innings total of 150 for six after Day 3 of the Duleep Trophy match in Bengaluru on Saturday. India B are now ahead by 240 runs with Washington Sundar (6) at crease after bowling out their rivals for 231 in their first innings to take a 90-run lead. Pant was the headliner of the day with a 61 off 47 balls (4×9, 6×2). But that lead suddenly looked so feeble when pacers Khaleel Ahmed (2/56) and Akash Deep (2/36) combined to reduce India B to 22 for three inside eight overs, overall lead standing at 132 at that point.

Skipper Abhimanyu Easwaran and first innings centurion Musheer Khan (0) fell to Akash Deep, while Yashasvi Jaiswal perished to Ahmed, and all three catches were taken by stumper Dhruv Jurel. India B went to tea at 33 for three.

In that context, it would not have been entirely out of place to imagine for Pant and Sarfaraz (46, 36b, 7×4, 1×6) to knuckle down and take their team to safer ports as the ball was still darting around appreciably.

However, both of them were irreverent to the situation, conditions, and bowlers.

The right-left combination hammered 72 runs from a shade over nine overs to tilt the balance of the match completely in favour of their team.

Sarfaraz was brutal on Akash, smoking him for five consecutive fours around the park while Pant neutralised Ahmed with a late cut and punch through the covers that galloped to the fence for boundaries.

Sarfaraz, who was dropped on 28 by Ahmed off his own bowling, creamed a flat six off the left-arm seamer over cover, evoking a wowing response from a good holiday crowd.

But he soon fell to Avesh Khan, snicking a climbing delivery on the off-stump to Jurel behind the wicket.

However, Pant did not slow down at the other end and brought up his fifty in just 34 balls. The left-hander moved from 43 to 49 with an overhead six off Kuldeep Yadav, and a ball later he brought up the mini milestone with a single.

But Pant fell to Tanush Kotian, scooping a simple catch to substitute Kumar Kushagra in his attempt to sweep the spinner.

By that time, Pant, who was tidy behind the wicket, also dispelled any lingering doubt about the first-choice wicketkeeper batter for the upcoming two-Test series against Bangladesh.

Earlier, pacers Navdeep Saini (3/60) and Mukesh Kumar (3/62) shared six wickets among them equally as India A were bowled out for 231 after resuming from overnight 134 for two.

Their biggest hope to close the gap with India B was the presence of KL Rahul (37) and Riyan Parag (30).

They looked determined too in their 89-run alliance for the third wicket despite the bowlers giving them some troubles from both ends.

As was the trend in the match, Parag gave a catch down the leg side to Pant off Yash Dayal and Rahul soon followed the suit, missing a sweep off off-spinner Washington to get bowled.

The wicket reduced India A to 169 for five and they had a big distance still to cover.

Shivam Dube (20) played some typically powerful shots, but his edge off Mukesh ended in the hands of Nitish Kumar Reddy at slips as India A went into the lunch at a wobbly 208 for seven.

In the whole of first session, they made 74 runs in 27 overs losing five wickets.

Kotian, a handy lower-order batter from Mumbai, tried to steer the ship with a 71-ball 32, but left-arm spinner Sai Kishore induced a thin edge for Musheer to take a good reflection catch at forward short leg.

It also ended their fight for the innings.

India A vs India B, Duleep Trophy 2024 LIVE Score: KL Rahul© AFP