Duleep Trophy: Shams Mulani & Tanush Kotian to the rescue after seamers rock India A

After India D seamers Vidwath Kaverappa, Harshit Rana and Arshdeep Singh ran through the top order, Mumbai boys Shams Mulani and Tanush Kotian rescued India A in the second round Duleep Trophy fixture at Anantapur.

The pitch, with a tinge of grass on it, played almost similar to the one for the first game at the venue as the seamers found good purchase off it. But Mulani’s fighting unbeaten knock of 88 pulled India A out of the hole at 93/5 as they ended Day 1 with 288/8 on board.

If not for Mulani’s 91-run stand with Kotian (53) for the seventh wicket, India A would have been in tatters. Just like Bengaluru, where their top order – which included Shubman Gill, KL Rahul and Dhruv Jurel – struggled against India B seamers, their batsmen were tested by India D’s new-ball bowlers. It was Kaverappa, who was part of the India A squad in the first round but was benched before being moved to India D ahead of the fixture, who landed the early blows after Shreyas Iyer won the toss and chose to field first.

50 🆙 in style! 🔥

Shams Mulani playing a vital knock for India A so far 👌#DuleepTrophy | @IDFCFIRSTBank

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Kaverappa, whose biggest strength is his consistency in hitting the fourth-stump channel, wasted no time. Having sent a majority of his first two overs to left-hander Pratham Singh, he took only two deliveries to remove his Karnataka teammate Mayank Agarwal. He made one ball shape away and off the next, as Agarwal tried to walk down the pitch to negate the movement, got one to move in and the former India opener could only nick it to the wicketkeeper. Four overs later, Pratham couldn’t hold himself back from hooking a well-directed bouncer from Kaverappa, which was caught by Arshdeep Singh at fine-leg.

Cameo

Thereafter, even as Tilak Varma appeared tentative, Riyan Parag – batting at No 4 here – launched a stunning counter-attack. It started with an elegant six over long-off off Kaverappa’s bowling when he just extended his arms to a delivery that most batsmen would have driven down the ground. Parag, instead, drove it over the ropes.

The Assam youngster would hit five more boundaries, before being caught at first slip off Arshdeep Singh’s bowling. The 29-ball 37 was a gem, but not the sort of innings that will put him in the selection fray.

Earlier in the day, Riyan Parag played some cracking strokes to lead India A’s counterattack 👌

Watch 📽️ his stroke-filled knock of 37(29) 🔽#DuleepTrophy | @IDFCFIRSTBank https://t.co/AIQ38Pz37x

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An over later, off-spinner Saransh Jain saw the back of Varma and when Rana dismissed Shashwat Rawat, India A had lost half the side with just 93 on board.

But just like in the opening fixture here, once the morning moisture disappeared from the surface, it got better for batting as wicketkeeper Kumar Kushagra and Mulani stitched a 51-run stand for the sixth wicket that steadied India A.

Once Kushagra departed, Mulani combined with Kotian to put the team back on track. With Mulani showing enough patience, Kotian did the bulk of the scoring in the 91-run partnership as for once, India D appeared short on answers. Once the ball got soft, runs flowed for India A. However, left-arm spinner Saurabh Kumar and Arshdeep struck in the final session to make it an even stevens day at stumps.

Brief scores: India A 288/8 (Shams Mulani 88 batting, Tanush Kotian 53, Riyan Parag 37; Vidwath Kaverappa 2/30) vs India D

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