India B openers Abhimanyu Easwaran and Narayan Jagadeesan started confidently with a relentless partnership of 124 runs after India C posted a mammoth first-innings total of 525 in the Duleep Trophy match at Anantapur on Friday. At stumps on the second day of the match, Easwaran and Jagadeesan scored 51 and 67 respectively, taking their team past 50 in 15 overs. Still trailing by 401 runs, the duo of Easwaran and Jagadeesan will be looking to continue in the same vein on the third morning and hope to get as close as possible to the mammoth total posted by their opponents.
Veteran Bengal batsman Iswaran, who led the India B team, scored four fours and a six off 91 balls, while wicketkeeper Jagadhisan faced 126 balls and hit eight boundaries while in the middle.
None of the India C bowlers found success in the 36 overs, with Iswaran and Jagaddisan keeping all 10 wickets intact for their team heading into Day 3.
Besides failing to get a wicket, India C decided to drop out of the attack after middle-order bowler Sandeep Warrior suffered an injury at the start of India B’s innings.
Warrior had just completed his seventh pitch of the game before being taken out due to an injury.
Earlier, youngster Manav Suthar had been outstanding with a clean sheet of 82 runs from 156 balls and was the linchpin of India’s C innings after the departure of another batsman and captain Ruturaj Gaikwad (58 runs from 74 balls).
While Gaikwad added 12 runs to his individual total, Suthar found a solid ally in Anshul Kamboz and the pair added 55 runs for the eighth wicket to take India C’s total to 450.
After Mayank Markande scored 17 off 21 balls, Kamboz quickly added 38 off 27 balls, with Suthar continuing his impressive performance.
The 22-year-old achieved his fourth first-class half-century in the tournament, his first at the Dulip Trophy in his second appearance, and improved on his excellent performance in the previous round.
After lunch on day 2, with the India B bowlers looking to end the India C innings, Suttar hit 11 fours and three sixes.
Leg-spinner Rahul Chahar (4/73) was the most successful bowler for India C, while pacer Mukesh Kumar (4/126) was also among the wickets.
On Day 1, Ishan Kishan (111 off 126 balls) returned to first-class action after a gap of more than a year with a hundred to help India C reach 357 for five.
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