Deodhar Trophy 2019 | Shahbaz Nadeem & Kedar Jadhav shine as India B beat India C in final
After cruising through their opening two fixtures, India C lost the game that mattered the most. A strong batting performance enabled India B to avenge Saturday’s defeat and trounce India C by 51 runs in the final of the Deodhar Trophy. India C brought in Krishnappa Gowtham in place of Anukul Roy. For India B, Test opener Mayank Agarwal was brought into the side in place of Anmolpreet Singh.
India B captain Parthiv Patel elected to bat first on a good batting surface in Ranchi. In-form batsman Rituraj Gaikwad was dismissed for a duck by Ishan Porel on the last ball of the first over. Teenage-star Yashasvi Jaiswal joined the skipper only to see him get out in the ninth over of the innings to Porel yet again.
Jaiswal and Baba Aparajith added 45 runs for the third wicket before Jalaj Saxena got the important scalp of Aparajith, trying to flick a low full-toss. Soon the experience of Axar Patel got the better of Jaiswal as he failed to slog a tossed-up delivery and offered a simple catch to Porel.
Nitish Rana and Kedar Jadhav added 79 crucial runs for the fifth wicket by the end of the 39th over to set a good platform for big-hitters to follow. Indian discard Vijay Shankar came in after Rana's dismissal and soon stitched a 74-run stand with Kedar to help India B post a daunting target of 284 runs. Ishan Porel bowled in good areas and ended with impressive figures of five for 43 runs in his 10 overs. Kedar scored 86 while Jaiswal hit a brilliant fifty and was well supported by Shankar’s 45-run knock off only 33 deliveries.
In reply, India C lost their skipper Shubman Gill with only two runs on the board. Gill drove a full Mohammed Siraj delivery to Jaiswal standing at the cover position. In the 12th over, Mayank Agarwal too miscued his shot to be caught at cover off the bowling of Indian spinner Shahbaz Nadeem.
Their hero of the previous match, Virat Singh was run-out in the next over to leave India C in a spot of bother at 64 for three. Nadeem soon got rid of Dinesh Karthik and the dangerous Suryakumar Yadav in quick succession to clamp down on the run-rate. Axar Patel was unlucky to be run-out for 38 as India C lost track of the target with a quick flurry of wickets at both ends.
Only Priyam Garg batted with due application for his 74 runs on a surface which had a lot to offer for batsmen throughout the match. Nadeem ended the match with figures of four for 32 as India C could only manage 232 runs in their fifty overs.
This victory came in after a heavy drubbing that saw India B lose by 136 runs to the same opposition two days ago and left them looking for answers before the final. India B batsman Baba Aparajith ended the tournament as the highest scorer with 167 runs in three innings, followed closely by Mayank Agarwal (148 runs in two games) and Shubman Gill (145 runs in three games) of India C.
In the bowling department, India C bowler Jalaj Saxena ended the tournament as the top wicket-taker with 10 scalps. Ishan Porel's five-for in the final helped him climb to the second spot with nine wickets while Shahbaz Nadeem took six wickets to finish third.
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