Vihari, spinners power India B to victory in Deodhar opener

A collective all-round show helped India B secure a 43-run win over India A in the opening game of Deodhar Trophy at Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi on Tuesday (October 23).

India A rode on Hanuma Vihari's unbeaten 87, a half-century from Manoj Tiwary, along with useful 40s from Mayank Agarwal and Shreyas Iyer to post a total of 261 for 8 in their quota of 50 overs. In reply, India A had lost half their side for only 87 runs, before Dinesh Karthik (99) and R Ashwin (54) led a rearguard effort. However, their knocks went in vain as India A ended up well short of the target, with spinners Mayank Markande and Shahbaz Nadeem picking up seven wickets between them to bowl the opposition out for 218.

Opting to bat, India B lost Ruturaj Gaikwad early, but a positive 59-run association between Agarwal and Iyer provided the team a good platform. Agarwal also had a lucky break, put down by Prithvi Shaw at point, while Iyer was reprieved by a missed stumping chance by Karthik off Krunal Pandya. However, both Agarwal and Iyer fell in quick succession to the spin of Pandya and Ashwin respectively, leaving India B tottering at 95 for 3 in the 18th over.

But India A had to wait for close to 20 overs for their next wicket, by which time Vihari and Tiwary had added 99 runs. Tiwary brought up his half-century with a six straight down the ground off Pandya as the fourth wicket pair set up a good base for the final flourish. But India A came back well in the death overs, starting with the run-out of Tiwary, who was followed to the hut by Ankush Bains and Deepak Chahar.

Vihari, who was unbeaten on 48 off 65 at the time of Tiwary's dismissal, took it upon himself to help his side finish with a competitive total. Four of Vihari's nine boundaries came after the 40th over, including two in the final over off Siddarth Kaul which pushed India B past 260.

When India A began their reply, all the focus was on the young Shaw, fresh off a successful Test series against the Windies. He took his time to get going before dancing down the track to Nadeem to score a boundary over extra cover. But he had to depart in the same over, unluckily, as the umpire failed to spot an inside edge and was given out leg-before. Karun Nair was also trapped in front, the very next ball, and there wasn't any doubt about his dismissal.

Anmolpreet Singh and Karthik led the recovery for a brief while, with both finding the ropes regularly. But Anmolpreet failed to pick the knuckle ball from Chahar, resulting in his dismissal for 16. While boundaries continued off Karthik's bat, Ankeet Bawne was undone by the pace of Varun Aaron, who also accounted for Pandya to leave India A reeling.

The Tamil Nadu pair of Karthik and Ashwin went about steadying the innings, with the former also surviving a leg-before shout by Chahar - another poor call from the umpire. Making the most of the opportunity, Karthik went on to cross the 50-run mark, and so did Ashwin, as they took India A past the 200-run mark by the time the 40th over was completed.

Karthik and Ashwin, through their 123-run stand for the sixth wicket, had raised India A's hopes. But they came down crashing when Markande and Nadeem struck in successive overs to account for Ashwin and Karthik respectively. It didn't take Markande long to clean up the lower order as he picked up the last three wickets with India A managing to add only four more to the total before being bowled out in the 47th over.

Brief scores: India B 261/8 in 50 overs (Hanuma Vihari 87*, Manoj Tiwary 52; Ravichandran Ashwin 2-39) beat India A 218 in 46.4 overs (Dinesh Karthik 99, R Ashwin 54; Mayank Markande 4-48, Shahbaz Nadeem 3-32) by 43 runs.