Ajinkya Rahane’s struggles in limited overs cricket continued as India B beat India C by 30 runs to enter the Deodhar Trophy final on Wednesday. It was Hanuma Vihari’s fighting half-century under pressure that propelled India B to 231/ 9 in 50 overs.
Their spinners, Krishnappa Gowtham (3/40 in 10 overs) and Manoj Tiwary (3/44 in 8 overs) did the bulk of the damage to bowl out India C for 201. However, what stuck out like a sore thumb was India C team captain Rahane’s laboured 32 off 61 balls.
The India vice-captain woes were compounded as left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem (0/29 in 10 overs) kept him under check. With three national selectors watching the proceedings, Rahane didn’t help his cause a lot as he couldn’t even rotate the strike.
On a slowish Kotla track, Rahane played a lot of dot balls which increased pressure on the later batsmen. Finally, it was Gowtham who ended his miseries as Rahane could not check his drive with Tiwary taking the catch at covers.
Shubman Gill (35), Suryakumar Yadav (39) and Vijay Shankar (35) got starts but played indiscreet shots as the India C team’s chase never gained momentum. Earlier, courtesy of Vihari’s second successive half century, India B scored 231/9 in 50 overs after being reduced to 90/5. Vihari hit six boundaries as the rest of his team failed to get going.
It was a 60-run stand between Vihari and Ankush Bains (25) that gave India B team’s score some semblance of respectability. Vihari anchored the innings as he was the ninth batsman out with India B on 195.
Jaydev Unadkat (15) and Shahbaz Nadeem (19) added 36 runs for the final wicket, and that proved crucial in the end.
Brief scores
India B 231/9 in 50 overs (Hanuma Vihari 76, Ankush Bains 25; Rajneesh Gurbani 3/38) beat India C 201 in 48.2 overs (Suryakumar Yadav 39; K Gowtham 3/40, Manoj Tiwary 3/44)
