Duleep Trophy: Pant, Sarfaraz steal the show on Day 3

Rishabh Pant's fifty, Sarfaraz Khan's aggression give India B control

The audacity of Rishabh Pant, who made a fifty, and Sarfaraz Khan helped India B waddle past persistent India A pacers to post a momentum grabbing second innings total of 150 for six after Day 3 of the Duleep Trophy match in Bengaluru on Saturday.

India B are now ahead by 240 runs with Washington Sundar (6) at crease after bowling out their rivals for 231 in their first innings to take a 90-run lead. Pant was the headliner of the day with a 61 off 47 balls (4x9, 6x2).

But that lead suddenly looked so feeble when pacers Khaleel Ahmed (2/56) and Akash Deep (2/36) combined to reduce India B to 22 for three inside eight overs, overall lead standing at 132 at that point.

Skipper Abhimanyu Easwaran and first innings centurion Musheer Khan (0) fell to Akash Deep, while Yashasvi Jaiswal perished to Ahmed, and all three catches were taken by stumper Dhruv Jurel. India B went to tea at 33 for three.

In that context, it would not have been entirely out of place to imagine for Pant and Sarfaraz (46, 36b, 7x4, 1x6) to knuckle down and take their team to safer ports as the ball was still darting around appreciably.

However, both of them were irreverent to the situation, conditions, and bowlers.

The right-left combination hammered 72 runs from a shade over nine overs to tilt the balance of the match completely in favour of their team.

Sarfaraz was brutal on Akash, smoking him for five consecutive fours around the park while Pant neutralised Ahmed with a late cut and punch through the covers that galloped to the fence for boundaries.

Sarfaraz, who was dropped on 28 by Ahmed off his own bowling, creamed a flat six off the left-arm seamer over cover, evoking a wowing response from a good holiday crowd.

But he soon fell to Avesh Khan, snicking a climbing delivery on the off-stump to Jurel behind the wicket.

However, Pant did not slow down at the other end and brought up his fifty in just 34 balls. The left-hander moved from 43 to 49 with an overhead six off Kuldeep Yadav, and a ball later he brought up the mini milestone with a single.

But Pant fell to Tanush Kotian, scooping a simple catch to substitute Kumar Kushagra in his attempt to sweep the spinner.

By that time, Pant, who was tidy behind the wicket, also dispelled any lingering doubt about the first-choice wicketkeeper batter for the upcoming two-Test series against Bangladesh.

Earlier, pacers Navdeep Saini (3/60) and Mukesh Kumar (3/62) shared six wickets among them equally as India A were bowled out for 231 after resuming from overnight 134 for two.

Their biggest hope to close the gap with India B was the presence of KL Rahul (37) and Riyan Parag (30).

They looked determined too in their 89-run alliance for the third wicket despite the bowlers giving them some troubles from both ends.

As was the trend in the match, Parag gave a catch down the leg side to Pant off Yash Dayal and Rahul soon followed the suit, missing a sweep off off-spinner Washington to get bowled.

The wicket reduced India A to 169 for five and they had a big distance still to cover.

Shivam Dube (20) played some typically powerful shots, but his edge off Mukesh ended in the hands of Nitish Kumar Reddy at slips as India A went into the lunch at a wobbly 208 for seven.

In the whole of first session, they made 74 runs in 27 overs losing five wickets.

Kotian, a handy lower-order batter from Mumbai, tried to steer the ship with a 71-ball 32, but left-arm spinner Sai Kishore induced a thin edge for Musheer to take a good reflection catch at forward short leg.

It also ended their fight for the innings.