On the first day of India D’s Duleep Trophy encounter against India B here on Thursday, good performances from the other frontline batsmen, especially Sanju Samson, helped the team to a respectable 306 for five. Shreyas Iyer’s miserable streak continued.
In the continuing competition, Iyer, who was hoping to rejoin the Indian Test team, was caught ducking for the second time in a row.
But the India D batters put on a strong display, with Devdutt Padikkal (50), Srikar Bharat (52), Ricky Bhui (56), and Samson (89 not out) smashing half-centuries.
Samson and 26-year-old Saransh Jain were at the crease at stumps.
Leg-spinner Rahul Chahar (3/60) took three wickets and was the most impressive bowler for India B. India B won the toss and chose to field first at the Rural Development Trust Stadium. Mukesh Kumar (1/37) and Navdeep Saini (1/51) both claimed a wicket.
Padikkal and Bharat put established a strong 105-run partnership to start the innings. But Saini’s wicket-taking of Padikkal and Mukesh’s dismissal of Bharat gave them the breakthrough, with wicketkeeper Narayan Jagadeesan taking both catches.
With their exit, Nishant Sindhu scored just 19 runs before being removed, and India D’s momentum was stopped at 175 for four with Chahar’s removal of captain Iyer.
After that, Bhui took over and led the team past 200 runs with 41 runs added with Samson. However, Chahar struck once more, dismissing Bhui to leave India D at 216 for five.
To keep India D on course, Samson persisted, hitting ten fours and three sixes in his 83-ball innings.
Samson scored 90 runs without losing against Jain.
Iyer had another underwhelming performance; although entering with India D in a strong position at 172/3, he was unable to take advantage of the situation.
Iyer has only scored 104 runs in five innings thus far in the tournament (9, 54, 0, 41, 0), average a meager 20.80.
Iyer’s prospects of being selected for the forthcoming series in Australia or the home series against New Zealand seem remote after he was left out of the squad for the first Test against Bangladesh.
Brief Scores:
India D: 306 for five in 77 overs (Sanju Samson 89 not out, Devdutt Padikkal 50, Srikar Bharat 52, Ricky Bhui 56; Rahul Chahar 3/60) vs India B.
