Duleep Trophy: India B beat India A by 76 runs

NEW DELHI: On Sunday, the fourth and final day of their Duleep Trophy match in Bengaluru, India B pacers headed by Yash Dayal forced India A to a 76-run defeat. KL Rahul 's gumption, which allowed him pile up a patient fifty, had no resonance among his colleagues. In their second innings, India A, chasing 275, were swept out for 198 as left-arm seamer Dayal (3/50) led the assault for India B, well assisted by compatriots Mukesh Kumar (2/50) and Navdeep Saini (2/41).

Rahul led the 'A' team in scoring with 51, as per PTI. India B amassed 184 all out in their second essay during the day's first session, good for a comfortable 274 advantage overall. Mayank Agarwal left in the second over itself, wafting Dayal away from his body to Nitish Kumar Reddy, who produced an amazing diving catch at second slip, setting up a precarious start to the chase.



As a result, Riyan Parag moved to the middle, and the right-hander took the route that Sarfaraz Khan and Rishabh Pant had set on Saturday. Pacer Mukesh took the brunt of Parag's aggression as he took on the bowlers. He was smoked for two sixes, and his second maximum even hit the roof of the Chinnaswamy Stadium over the mid-wicket area.

With a very quiet Shubman Gill, who was dismissed at slips off Mukesh by Nitish Reddy at 16, Parag added 48 runs for the second wicket in just 18 balls. However, with the amount of support the bowlers were receiving here, the approach was difficult to maintain, and soon Dayal's huge blow to the stumps took the edge off Parag's bat and stumped Rishabh Pant. Gill (21) was shortly out of the game, succumbing to Saini for the second time, this time managing to edge the pacer to Pant.

Dayal was way outside off-stump when Dhruv Jurel poked him to Yashasvi Jaiswal at gully, and India's batters were dismissed for their own negligence and the bowlers' perseverance on that channel. An hour into the match, they were behind 76 for 4, which quickly turned into 99 for 6 following the ejection of Shivam Dube and Tanush Kotian. To postpone the inevitable, Rahul played out 180 minutes against 121 balls, milking 42 runs for the seventh wicket with Kuldeep Yadav.

Mukesh's whistling drive for a boundary was the highlight of an otherwise dismal performance. However, Mukesh soon got his revenge when Rahul, having just reached his fifty with a single against Saini, feathered a cut off him to Pant, who completed five catches this innings. Despite a few amusing moments provided by a carefree innings, Akash Deep (43, 42b, 3x4, 4x6) effectively marked the end of the road for India A.

But more than just a matter of amusement, the question was always one of when rather than if. Earlier, after reaching 150 for six over night, India B could only add 34 runs to their total before being bowled out. After being dismissed by Sarfaraz Khan for five straight fours the day before, pacer Akash regained his form to take out Washington Sundar and Saini to finish with five wickets (5/56).

His name will continue to be considered when the selectors convene in the near future to choose the team for the two-match Test series against Bangladesh because of his spell..