Duleep Trophy 2024: Mayank Agarwal and Pratham Singh’s century opening partnership gives India A the edge over India D

Anantapur: Pratham Singh and Mayank Agarwal of India A put on an impressive 115-run opening partnership in the second innings against India D in the Duleep Trophy second-round match. However, their partnership was broken by Shreyas Iyer on the final delivery of day two's play at the Rural Development Trust Stadium on Friday.

At stumps, India A are at 115/1 and lead by 222 runs with nine wickets in hand, after day two’s play yielded 13 wickets overall. In the morning, India A’s inning ended at 289, with Shams Mulani’s rearguard act ending at 89.

In reply, pacers Khaleel Ahmed and Aaqib Khan took three scalps each to bowl out India D for 183, as India A took a 107-run first-innings lead. Left-handed batter Devdutt Padikkal waged a lone battle for India D through his knock of 92, while Harshit Rana chipped in with a useful 31.

Resuming from an overnight score of 288/8, Harshit Rana dismissed Shams Mulani to leave him 11 runs short of what would have been his first century in first-class cricket. Shortly after, Rana castled Aaqib to take his fourth wicket and ended the India A innings on 290 in 84.3 overs.

India D’s reply began on a sour note as Atharva Taide was trapped lbw by Khaleel in the first over. The left-arm pacer then dismissed captain Shreyas Iyer for a seven-ball duck, before Aaqib came in to dismiss Yash Dubey and Sanju Samson as India D were reduced to 52/4.

Devdutt and Ricky Bhui (23) tried rebuilding India D’s innings with a 44-run stand before the latter was trapped lbw by Khaleel after lunch. With batters falling quickly from the other end, Padikkal was resolute in standing up for India D, hitting 15 fours in his 124-ball stay at the crease.

After Padikkal was caught behind off his Karnataka state teammate Prasidh Krishna, Harshit hit four fours and two sixes in his quick cameo before becoming the last wicket to fall, as India D’s innings ended at 183 in 52.1 overs.

Armed with a 107-run lead, Agarwal, the India A skipper, hit eight boundaries in his 56 off 87 balls, while Pratham hit six fours to be 59 not out off 82 balls. India A looked set to end the day without any more damage until Mayank chipped off the toe-end of his bat against a flighted delivery from Shreyas, who dived to his right and took a sharp, low catch at the stroke of stumps on an eventful day two.

Brief Scores: India A 290/10 (Shams Mulani 89, Tanush Kotian 53; Harshit Rana 4-51) and 115/1 (Pratham Singh 59*, Mayank Agarwal 56; Shreyas Iyer 1-0) lead India D 183/10 (Devdutt Padikkal 92; Khaleel Ahmed 3-39) by 222 runs.