Mumbai On the opening day of India B’s Duleep Trophy first-round encounter versus India A at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on Thursday, young player Musheer Khan hit an unbeaten 105 and pulled off a stunning comeback.
India B had many well-known hitters, such Rishabh Pant, Sarfaraz Khan (Musheer’s elder brother), Abhimanyu Easwaran, and Yashasvi Jaiswal. However, an outstanding Musheer outperformed them all to seize the limelight with his third first-class century on the competition’s opening day. At the end of the day’s play, he amassed an undefeated century of 105 runs, replete with ten fours and two sixes, in an incredible show of dogged batting coupled with unwavering will to propel India B from 94/7 to 202/7 in 79 overs.
In addition to reaching his first-ever century in the Duleep Trophy with 205 balls, Musheer also put together an uninterrupted 108-run partnership for the eighth wicket with Navdeep Saini (29 not out). Musheer saw that Saini was the ideal counterbalance to him, as the young player scored runs by slogging it out against pacers when they were in control and hitting boundaries with abandon when spinners entered the game.
India A chose to bowl first, and they had an early advantage since their pacers, who bowled for the first hour, kept to a strict line and length while the ball was struggling a little under the overcast skies. When Avesh Khan saw Abhimanyu Easwaran cutting hard at a wide delivery, Dhruv Jurel leaped to his right and caught the ball almost in front of the first slip, giving India A their first breakthrough.
Yashasvi Jaiswal scored six boundaries in his thirty-run innings, timing his drives and flicks perfectly. However, he was caught at backward point by Khaleel Ahmed after failing to keep the cut low. In the second session, India B’s batting collapsed, even though Musheer stood tall despite a severe probe from the pacers.
When Rishabh Pant, who was playing in a first-class match for the first time since December 2022, misplayed a loft and Shubman Gill ran backwards from mid-off to complete a brilliant catch, the batter was out for seven. Avesh trapped Sarfaraz leg before wicket.
As India B was whittled down to 94/7, Nitish Reddy, Washington Sundar, and R. Sai Kishore also went cheaply. Musheer grinded out his half-century in 118 balls in the thick of the wreckage, and Kuldeep Yadav was swift to arrive and hit him for four boundaries.
Musheer, who made his first-class debut in December 2022, celebrated his hundredth run with great vigour as the India B dugout gave him a standing ovation and Sarfaraz raised his arms in salute. The attacking strategy continued against other spinners.