Duleep Trophy 2024: Pacers keep India A alive despite breezing knocks from India B's Rishabh Pant, Sarfaraz Khan

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Duleep Trophy 2024: Two crucial wickets in the final seven overs of Day 3 kept India A alive in their ongoing contest against India B at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Bengaluru on Saturday, September 7.

Rishabh Pant departed for 61 off 47 in the 25h over, while Nitish Reddy was also dismissed for 19 off 41 when umpires decided to draw stumps on the day which saw a total of 14 wickets fall.

India B were reduced to 22/3 when Sarfaraz Khan and Rishabh Pant played a counter-attacking knock after Tea. They partnered for 72 runs off just 56 balls. Sarfaraz scored 46 off 36 balls, while Pant went on to smash a 34-ball fifty.

Just when the duo looked unstoppable, Avesh Khan bowled a fiery spell and sent Sarfaraz packing on a delivery which bounced sharply to take an edge and land into the gloves of Dhurv Jurel, who has picked a total of five catches so far in the innings.

Pant was dismissed by off-spinner Tanush Kotian while attempting a sweep, while Khaleel Ahmed helped India A get rid of Nitish Reddy. Earlier, the left-arm pacer dismissed opener Yashasvi Jaiswal (9).

Akash Deep was also lethal with the new ball, taking the wickets of Musheer Khan and captain Abhimanyu Easwaran (4), Musheer, who scored 181 in the first innings, was dismissed for a six-ball duck.

Earlier in the day, it was India B bowlers who made life miserable for India A batting unit. Starting from their overnight score of 134/2, they were bundled out for 231. KL Rahul top-scored for India A with 37 off 111 balls. India B pacers Mukesh Kumar and Navdeep Saini picked three wickets each. Sai Kishore also chipped in with two wickets.