Duleep Trophy, Day 3: Deja vu! It’s like the second day’s play was repeated today. The players were different, but the result was the same. Batters dominated the third day in Anantapur like yesterday. Heaps of runs were scored. India A scored 265 runs in 69.5 overs, losing just two wickets against India D before they declared and set them a mammoth 488-run target with 4 sessions left in the match. In the other game (India B vs C), just 185 runs were scored and 7 wickets were lost. However, in total, only 10 wickets fell on the third day.
Pratham Singh & Tilak Varma frustrate India D
India A entered the middle with the score reading 115/1. From there on, it was complete dominance from their batters. Pratham Singh and Tilak Varma added 105 runs together, and by the time the opener got out on 122, the lead was already 326. But they didn’t stop there. Tilak wasn’t feeling confident, but as he spent more and more time in the middle, he became more confident.
Eventually, he scored an unbeaten 111. Riyan Parag was the only batter who didn’t score a half-century, as Shashwat Rawat scored a quick 64(88). Together, Tilak and Rawat added 116 runs for the fifth wicket, and it was in the second over after Tea that Mayank Agarwal declared. India D lost Atharva Taide in the third over, but Yash Dubey and Ricky Bhui played out the remaining overs, adding 60 runs to end the day.
India B’s lone warrior: Easwaran
Before the third day, India B hadn’t lost a wicket. Today, they lost 7. After N Jagadeesan departed for 70, no other batter barring captain Abhimanyu Easwaran scored more than 21 runs. They went from 124/0 at the start of the day to 309/7 at the end of the day. If not for Easwaran’s 143*, they might have not even crossed 250.
The opener has earned him a reputation after scoring thousands of runs in domestic cricket. He’s also earned some India call-ups but never made it to the XI. This innings shows why he’s rated so highly. The southpaw is the next in line to take over the opener spot in Team India, and if Rohit Sharma leaves the format, he could very well find himself donning the white jersey.
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