Anantapur: Left-arm spinner Manav Suthar converted his five-wicket haul into a seven-fer, while captain Ruturaj Gaikwad Aryan Juyal, and Rajat Patidar hit crucial 40s in leading India C to a four-wicket win over India D in a first-round match of the Duleep Trophy at the Rural Development Trust Stadium here on Saturday.
In the morning, India D resumed from an overnight score of 206/8. But they could add only 30 more runs to the total as Suthar dismissed Axar Patel for 28 and then took out Aditya Thakare to finish with excellent figures of 7-49 in 19.1 overs, including bowling seven maidens, as India C were set a target of 233 to win.
In the chase, India C were off to a flying start as Gaikwad and Sai Sudharsan hit boundaries consistently off Harshit Rana and Arshdeep Singh to bring up the half-century of their opening stand in just 6.3 overs. The duo eventually had a 64-run opening stand before left-handed Sudharsan was caught by Ricky Bhui against off-spinner Saransh Jain.
Four overs later, Saransh came back to have Gaikwad caught by Shreyas Iyer and dismissed him for 46. Juyal and Patidar hung around to hit ten boundaries between themselves and get India C’s chase back on track. But Saransh came back to have Patidar stumped while Juyal was caught in the deep off Arshdeep.
With Baba Indrajith and Hrithik Shokeen falling cheaply, India C were reduced to 198/6 and needed 35 more runs to win with four wickets in hand. Abishek Porel (35 not out) and Suthar (19 not out) kept their calm and held their nerve to complete the chase in 61 overs to win the match in just three days. With six points in their kitty, India C will next face India B in the second round at Anantapur on September 12.
Brief scores: India D 164 and 236 in 59.1 overs (Devdutt Padikkal 56, Shreyas Iyer 54; Manav Suthar 7-49) lost to India C 168 and 233/6 in 61 overs (Aryan Juyal 47, Ruturaj Gaikwad 46; Saransh Jain 4-92) by four wickets. IANS
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