Duleep Trophy 2024, India A vs India B, Day 2 Review: Match evenly poised after Musheer, Saini help India B post sizeable score

With India B ending Day 1 on 202/7 after Musheer Khan's resilent back-to-the-wall century with Navdeep Saini proving to be the perfect foil for the 19-year-old, it was to be seen how the both of them would fare when the second new ball would enter the fray after the first over of the second day.

Despite India A bowling accurately with them hitting the right channels with the fresh cherry, they were made to grind it out by both the batters in the middle. However, proceedings didn't quite go India A's way as an over after missing out on running Saini out, they lost all their reviews having taken their third unsuccessful review, this time in a bid to dismiss Musheer via a caught-behind chance early on in the day.

Overs 85 to 93 saw nine boundaries being scored, with Musheer being responsible for eight of them, as India B leveraged their eighth-wicket partnership. Musheer brought up a rightfully merited 150 during Kuldeep Yadav's first over of the day. Yet another successful review by Musheer followed up by Parag being denied his scalp after the on-field umpire showed no interest in raising his finger after Saini was trapped right in front characterized a frustrating morning session for India A. Soon after, Lunch was called with India B on a score of 290, going two sessions in succession without inflicting any further impairment to the wickets column. 

It was just the second over of the second session of the day when Kuldeep broke the 205-run stand between Musheer and Saini as the youngster missed out on his second first-class double-ton by 19 runs after trying to replicate a similar shot played just a couple of deliveries earlier, only to find Parag at deep square-leg via a towering top-edge. The 19-year-old was applauded by the crowd, as well as Shubman Gill & Co. as he made his way off the field in a rather grudging manner.

Nevertheless, the accolades failed to cease as Saini brought up his second first-class half-century with a deft lap towards fine-leg in an innings that any batter would be pleased with, let alone a tailender. India A brought the innings to a close shortly after with Saini backing away and cutting it to Parag's throat at third man. Akash Deep secured a four-for with him being the most economical out of the trio of frontline pacers.

Mayank Agarwal took 14 deliveries to get off the mark. However, he proceeded with considerable ease thereafter, creaming India B's bowlers for a cascade of boundaries on the off-side. The same over which saw India A surpass the 50-run mark witnessed a peach of a nippy delivery to dismiss the skipper of India A, Gill, on the stroke of Tea, making for an intriguing final session. 

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Riyan Parag's streaky boundary off his first ball got the final session underway. However, the very next over saw Saini dismiss Agarwal with a fine take by Pant down the leg-side while diving low to his left. KL Rahul finally got off the mark on his 14th delivery, much like Agarwal. Despite being the sole wicket-taker for India A, Saini erred a bit too much for his liking and was taken off the attack after his first spell yielded 32 runs in six overs.

By the first delivery of the 25th over, each of the four bowlers from India B had bowled a no-ball each. It was almost seeming as if they were overdoing a bit too much at times, overstepping in the process.  It wasn't until the 31st over of the innings when spin was introduced for the first time, with Sai Kishore getting the nod ahead of Washington Sundar.

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Surprisingly, the left-arm spinner got just the sole over despite conceding just the single run and was taken off for Nitish Kumar Reddy who finished off the day with a two-over spell. Parag looked the more settled out of the two as Rahul scratched along for the bulk of his innings. The latter would be keen on making the most of his start on Day 3, much like Musheer, and would want to capitalize on the respite received by Reddy when he was dropped by the batting all-rounder on a score of three.