India B opener Abhimanyu Easwaran continued to bat with confidence as he scored a defiant century to guide his side to 309 for 7 against India C, who still looked in control to impose a follow-on in their Duleep Trophy match on Saturday. Despite Easwaran’s unbeaten 143, India B are 216 runs behind India C and need 66 more runs to avoid a follow-on with just three wickets in hand. India C had scored a mammoth 525 in their first innings with Ishan Kishan scoring a century. Day 3 of the draw belonged to India B captain, who scored a patient 143 off 262 balls amid a procession of wickets with India C pacer Anshul Kamboj’s five-wicket haul (5/66 in 23.5 overs) bringing Easwaran’s team to its knees.
Undaunted by the fall of wickets at the other end, Bengal batsman Easwaran continued to frustrate the India C bowlers, though he still has work to do on Sunday to prevent a follow-on.
Starting the day on 124 for no loss with Easwaran (51 overnight not out) and Narayan Jagadeesan (67 overnight not out) holding strong, India B were jolted quite early when Kamboj struck in just the fourth over of the morning session.
The 23-year-old from Haryana, who had played a few matches for Mumbai Indians in the IPL last season, got rid of the dangerous Jagadeesan, who added just three runs to his personal score, getting the Tamil Nadu batsman caught by wicket-keeper Abhishek Porel for 70, thereby breaking the 129-run partnership.
Kamboj then got brothers Musheer and Sarfaraz Khan to score cheaply for 1 and 16 runs respectively before he dealt with strong batsman Rinku Singh (6) and Nithis Kumar Reddy (2) to completely destabilise India B.
At 194 for 5, things looked bleak for Easwaran's team but the captain took it upon himself to shore up his team amid some hostile pitches from Kamboj. He built a 43-run partnership with Washington Sundar (13) and then a 46-run partnership with Sai Kishore (21) to repair the damage.
At the stumps, Rahul Chahar (18 not out) was keeping Easwaran company but with just three wickets remaining, it could be a tough task for India B to avoid a follow-on.
India C captain Ruturaj Gaikwad might even decide not to impose a follow-on given that tomorrow is the final day of the competition and they have secured three vital points on the basis of their first-innings lead.
However, if Gaikwad applies the strategy and wins the match, his team will gain six points.
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