Ajinkya Rahane proved why he isn’t someone who can be done away with in ODIs after he stroked a powerful 144 which helped India C win the Deodhar Trophy on Saturday.
It was his unbeaten knock of 144 of 156 balls which had nine fours and three sixes that laid the foundation for his team to launch themselves for a big score. And it happened that way as well. He shared a 210-run opening partnership with Ishan Kishan who powered his way to a ton as well–one of just 87 balls with eleven fours and six sixes as India C ended their first innings with a massive 352/7 on the board.
Despite Jaydev Unadkat scalping three wickets, it was all about the India C batters. A blazing 39 off 18 balls with four huge sixes by Suryakumar Yadav helped the Rahane led side rack up such a huge total as they walked into the break with a lot of momentum and confidence.
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But just when one thought that this match would be a one-sided affair and India C would absolutely steamroll their opponents, Rahane’s opposite number–Shreyas Iyer came up with a ton of his own–in 114 balls as he took the fight to the opposition. The Mumbai batsman made a strong case for himself for India’s ODI squad after he stroked 11 fours and sent eight over the fence in his knock with an impressive strike-rate of 129.82. He stitched 116 runs for the second wicket with Ruturaj Gaikwad (60) as they posed a tough threat to that 353-run target. Eventually, they fell 29 short of that mammoth total.
Left-arm spinner Pappu Roy starred for India C with three with three wickets.
Brief scores: India C 352/7 (Ajinkya Rahane 144 no off 156 balls, Ishan Kishan 114 off 87 balls) beat India B 323 all out in 46.2 overs (Shreyas Iyer 148 off 114 balls, Ruturaj Gaikwad 60, Ankush Bains 37, Pappu Roy 3/75) by 29 runs.
Image credit (Ajinkya Rahane)-myKhel
Image credit (Ishan Kishan) -Cricfit