In the last round of the Duleep Trophy 2024–25 in Anantapur, India D emerged victorious with a consolation victory thanks to Arshdeep Singh‘s first-class career-best of 6 for 40. Arshdeep and Vidarbha seamer Aditya Thakare shared all ten wickets between them as India B collapsed for 115 in just 22.2 overs, despite being set 373 for win in just under two sessions.
Suryakumar Yadav, who only achieved scores of 5 and 16 in his first first-class match in more than a year, was one of Arshdeep’s many notable strikes across both innings. Only his second five-wicket haul in first-class cricket was achieved by left-arm seamer Arshdeep, who concluded with a match total of 9 for 90.
All-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy of India B was the only batsman to provide any resistance, going undefeated at 40 when Arshdeep duly claimed the last wicket to seal a 257-run triumph prior to lunch on the fourth and final day.
Ricky Bhui, the hitter, was declared the Player of the Match in addition to Arshdeep Singh contributions.
After India D found themselves in difficulty at 18 for 3 in the second innings, Bhui blew up the score in the second innings with an undefeated 119, after scoring 56 in the first. Even though spin-bowling all-rounder Saransh Jain did not come out to bat due to an undisclosed ailment, Bhui, who started the day undefeated at 90, swiftly reached his 20th first-class century as India D added 59 more to their overnight 244 for 5.
India B was swiftly three down in eight overs, and their dreams of reaching the target were dashed. They needed a solid foundation from the top order. The competition came to a close with Musheer Khan, who had opened with a backs-to-the-wall 181, out for his second duck in four innings. Much more had been promised by the event.
Despite ending the tournament in a losing cause, Nitish, who hadn’t played as much as he would have liked, did so on a more positive note. He proved that he could bowl for extended periods of time and move the ball quickly in both directions by taking two wickets during the competition.
With the exception of Arshdeep, left-arm spinner Saurabh Kumar had a successful match; his five wickets in the opening session gave India D a 67-run advantage. Other encouraging things for them included Shreyas Iyer, who was captaining the team, hitting 50 off just 40 balls in the second innings, and Sanju Samson, the first-inning centurion, making a cameo to build up a total they could finally defend.
Abhimanyu Easwaran was one of the shining stars for India B. He was dismissed twice in the event, which was quite unusual for him, but he recovered to score two hundreds in his next two innings.
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His team’s hopes of winning the Duleep Trophy were dashed, though, since India A is almost set to defeat India C by three points in their current match.
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