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The opening day of the Duleep Trophy match between India A and India B saw a thrilling display of grit and resilience from young Musheer Khan, who led his team's revival with an impressive century. The match took place at Bengaluru, with India A fielding an experienced bowling attack that initially posed a significant challenge to the India B batsmen.
The overcast conditions and a green pitch gave India A's pace bowlers, Khaleel Ahmed and Akash Deep, early movement, which troubled India B's opener, Yashasvi Jaiswal. While the pace trio, including Avesh Khan, clocked in the 130kph mark, their discipline in lines made life difficult for the batters. India B struggled to score runs in the first couple of sessions, with their openers only managing 33 runs in the first 12 overs. Jaiswal, despite a nervy start, showed patience and held back his shots until the bowlers erred. However, his partner and captain, Abhimanyu Easwaran, lost patience and edged a wide delivery from Avesh Khan to be dismissed.
The dismissal of Easwaran coincided with Khaleel Ahmed's return for a more threatening second spell. He found success by using the lines from around the wicket to the right-handers, eventually dismissing Jaiswal with a widish delivery that was slapped straight to point. The Mumbai brothers, Sarfraz Khan and Musheer Khan, faced a tough time against the experienced India A bowlers. Despite Sarfraz starting with a cut boundary, the first 30 overs until lunch saw India B manage only 65 runs for the loss of their openers. The second session began with India A taking an early wicket, with Avesh Khan trapping Sarfaraz LBW. This brought in the much-anticipated red-ball comeback of Rishabh Pant.
However, Pant's attacking intent failed to yield results. He was gifted a full toss first ball and missed a swing. His stay at the crease lasted only ten balls, ending with him sky-ing a catch while trying to take on Akash Deep. Akash, who was finding his lengths with the older ball, dismissed Nitish Reddy with a delivery that seamed after pitching in line to get him for a golden duck. He then had Washington Sundar run out for a duck in a spell that read 5-2-6-2 straight after lunch. India B lost their fifth wicket of the session when R Sai Kishore edged Khaleel to slip, leaving them at 94 for 7.
The only consolation for India B as the day wore on was the resolute performance of Musheer Khan. He stood firm even when tested constantly, including a close LBW shout off Shivam Dube. He batted with determination, eventually reaching his half-century off 118 balls. He then farmed the strike with Navdeep Saini as the sun began to set, choosing to pick the spin of Kuldeep Yadav as a scoring option. Musheer employed the sweep effectively and managed four boundaries off the senior spinner.
In the final session, Musheer Khan upped the ante against a weary bowling attack. With confidence in his partner Saini, they put on an impressive unbeaten 108-run stand. Musheer's hundred eventually came off 205 balls, with scoring becoming progressively easier against the older ball. The spinners, Kuldeep Yadav and Tanush Kotian, struggled to gain purchase off the surface and were put under pressure by an attacking Musheer, who made the day his own. His impressive innings and the unbeaten partnership with Saini helped India B recover from a precarious position, eventually setting a respectable total of 202 for 7 by the end of the first day.
Source: Musheer Khan leads India B's revival with impressive ton