India B 321 (Musheer 181, Saini 56, Akash 4-60) and 184 (Pant 61, Akash 5-56) beat India A 231 (Rahul 37, Mukesh 3-62) and 198 (Rahul 57, Akash 43, Dayal 3-50, Saini 2-41) by 76 runs
He had Mayank Agarwal nicking to second slip in his first over when he got one to move away appreciably off the seam to square him up. Dayal had his second when Riyan Parag feathered a drive to Pant. He celebrated the wicket with a send-off after not taking too kindly Parag’s adventurous short-arm jab that flew over midwicket for six. Dayal’s third came shortly before lunch when Dhruv Jurel’s loose drive away from the body flew low to Yashavi Jaiswal.
Losing a clutch of wickets left Rahul with two options: going for runs or looking to take the game into the final session. He chose the second option. It wasn’t necessarily entertaining, but his willingness to put a price on his wicket on a surface Akash felt was “getting more and more tougher” stood out.
However, on the positive side, at least from an Indian standpoint, there was also perhaps no bigger endorsement of Rahul’s match fitness, considering he was playing his first red-ball game in over seven months. That said, it wasn’t all dour defence There were two on-drives that oozed class, a cut shot that sped to the fence. He hit seven fours in all.
Akash’s slogs provided some late fireworks, but the fun ended when he was run out after losing his balance attempting to fend a bumper, with Musheer Khan at short leg flicking the ball back onto the stumps. India A were bowled out for 198 in 53 overs. Dayal apart, Saini picked up two wickets to go with his three from the first innings, while Nitish Reddy and Washington picked up a wicket apiece.
