Deodhar Trophy: Shahbaz Nadeem, Mayank Markande star as India B beat India A by 43 runs

A gritty 99 from the bat of skipper Dinesh Karthik wasn’t enough to take India A across the line as they were handed a 43-run loss by India B in the first match of the Deodhar Trophy on Tuesday.

Batting first, India B were powered by a patient 87 from Hanuma Vihari and 52 from Manoj Tiwary as they played out their quota of 50 overs ending at 261/8. Ravichandran Ashwin ended with two wickets to his name while Dhawal Kulkarni, Mohammad Siraj, Krunal Pandya, Siddharth Kaul and Shreyas Gopal all ended with a wicket apiece.

The first one to fall was Ruturaj Gaikwad who edged one to first slip with Karun Nair holding on to a catch.

A stylish innings run-a-ball 46 from Mayank Agarwal followed and the captain Shreyas Iyer even came up with 41 runs of his own but failed to carry on as they both fell in a quick space of time.

A 99-run stand from Tiwary and Vihari then brought the innings back on track as they eventually were restricted to 261.

Chasing 262, India A didn’t get off to a good start as they lost the highly-rated Prithvi Shaw for just 7 runs with Shahbaz Nadeem being the wicket-taker.

Deepak Chahar then struck in the third over to remove Karun Nair as the Karthik-led side were reduced to 8/2 at one stage.

The slump continued with India A losing half their side with just 87 on the board and it took a brave 99 from the bat of Karthik and 54 from Ashwin to give India A any hopes of chasing down the modest total. After a strong 123-run stand between the two was brought to an end by Mayank Markande, it was like a house of cards as one fell after the other and they were shot out for 218 in 46.4 overs.

Markande was the best bowler statistically with four scalps to his name while Nadeem, who dismissed crucial batsmen ended with figures of 3/32.

Varun Aaron, on a comeback trail, took two wickets while Chahar had one to his name.

Image credit- (Shahbaz Nadeem)- Mid-Day

Image credit- (Mayank Markande)- ajkikhabar,com