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India B 321 and 150 for 6 (Pant 61, Sarfaraz 46, Akash 2-36, Khaleel 2-56) lead India A 231 (Rahul 37, Kotian 32, Saini 3-60, Mukesh 3-62) by 240 runs
Sarfaraz Khan and Rishabh Pant, batters who bring daredevilry to the crease, brought a small but festive Saturday crowd to life after tea on the third day in Bengaluru.
The trigger for this thrilling counter was an instinctive response to India A’s Akash Deep and Khaleel Ahmed striking early. Although India B had a 90-run first-innings lead, they were in choppy waters at 22 for 3. A contest was brewing until Pant and Sarfaraz decided to take the counterattacking route.
Sarfaraz kickstarted the party by employing a method typical of him, and far different to his brother, Musheer Khan, who had just been strangled down leg for a duck to go with his epic 181 in the first innings. Musheer’s dismissal was down to Dhruv Jurel’s glove work as he dived to his left to grab a one-handed stunner.
Sarfaraz got his first life on zero when he drilled a half-volley that burst through substitute Tilak Varma’s hands at extra cover. It would be the start of a mini contest between Khaleel, Avesh Khan and Sarfaraz, all India Under-19 batch-mates from 2016.
The fast-bowling duo were riling him up with words and friendly jibes even as Pant, also from the same batch, chuckled, perhaps knowing fully well this was probably a contest worth viewing from the other end. The friendly banter certainly seemed to get Sarfaraz’s competitive juices flowing.
He would very quickly switch his focus back by hitting Akash for five fours in a row. Out came a booming drive, a rasping cut, a delicate steer, a neat tickle down leg and a wristy whip as he peppered every region of the ground from cover to point to deep third to fine leg and deep square.
By this time, it felt silly to assume Pant would buckle down and enjoy the Sarfaraz show. He didn’t and, in the process, lived dangerously to begin with. A reverse scoop off Akash, reminiscent of the audacious reverse to James Anderson, flew between Jurel and KL Rahul at first slip, neither having any time to react.
Then a wild heave across the line, as if he was unleashed by a free hit in a T20, went a mile high. Jurel hared all the way back towards fine leg, while yelling and gesturing to Kuldeep Yadav to get out of the way, only for the ball to just elude him. Jurel had miscalculated; the ball would have been straight down Kuldeep’s lap at fine leg.
Then Pant decided to take on Khaleel’s short ball. This induced more hair-tearing frustration for the bowlers. Pant was so early into the hook shot that the ball ballooned off the gloves over the slip cordon. It left Khaleel incensed so much that you wondered what reprieving Sarfaraz off his own bowling, on 28, would elicit. There was, of course, disbelief and more frustration. Khaleel animatedly exchanged a friendly stare, followed by words and a smile.
This, however, wasn’t the last of this thrill-a-minute ride. In the same over, Sarfaraz looked to whack the leather of a ball not full enough to be a half-volley or short enough to be good length. It flew off the bat, over point, for a flat six. There wasn’t much else left to say now for Khaleel.
Sarfaraz was eyeing a half-century, perhaps more. In trying to keep at it, he slashed one to Jurel. Avesh, who had bantered with him earlier, leapt past Sarfaraz in celebration and gave him a send-off. Sarfaraz made 46 off 36; he had put on 72 off 55 with Pant; India B’s lead had swelled to 184. The partnership was over, but the party wasn’t.
Pant went bonkers, tonking Kuldeep for a sequence of 4, 0, 6, 0, 1 to bring up a 34-ball half-century. The purity of the big hits, the conviction in taking the attack to the bowlers and simply playing without any inhibitions, like he always does, lit up a leaden afternoon. A top edge to a tame sweep off Tanush Kotian got him for 61, but he walked off knowing he had done his job.
The stunning post-tea double-act from Pant and Sarfaraz made one forget all the discussion around India’s imminent Test selection for the Bangladesh series.
In any case, six Test regulars: Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, R Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammed Siraj aren’t playing the Duleep Trophy. Two others, Rahul and Pant, are expected to make the cut. As is Sarfaraz, most probably as a reserve batter.
Until this thrilling ride, the exhibition of outstanding seam and swing bowling from all of India’s prospects who will be looked at later in the year, for India A and the Test tour to Australia, made for compelling viewing.
This included those who have already played Test cricket, such as Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini and Akash, and those who haven’t – Yash Dayal and Khaleel – but are in the conversation because of their ability and the left-arm variety that India have missed.
Saini and Mukesh picked up three wickets each to help India B take a lead. Khaleel and Akash struck early, and then, Pant and Sarfaraz happened.
Shashank Kishore is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
