File image of Ricky Bhui.© X (Twitter)
Ricky Bhui was 10 runs short of his second successive hundred as India D's overall lead swelled to 311 against India B, when stumps were drawn on the third day of the Duleep Trophy encounter here on Saturday. Shreyas Iyer also showed some form with a purposeful half-century for India D, scoring 50 off 40 balls. At stumps, India D scored 244 for 5 in their second innings with Bhui unbeaten on 90 off just 87 balls with 10 fours and three sixes to his credit. Earlier, India B were all out for 282 in their first innings in reply to 'D's first essay of 349.
Starting the day at 210 for 6, Washington Sundar (87) ran out of partners as none of the tail-enders stayed long enough to give him an opportunity to complete his hundred. Washington's 140-ball knock was studded with seven fours and a six.
Left-arm spinner Saurabh Kumar, who has been on the fringes for a long time finished with 5 for 73 while Arshdeep Singh couldn't add to his overnight tally of three victims.
In the second innings, India D had quickly slumped to 18 for 3 by the start of the fourth over but Iyer and Bhui counter-attacked with great disdain, adding 75 runs in just 10.3 overs.
Iyer was finally holed out by Mohit Avasthi off Mukesh Kumar, who took three wickets despite going for 80 runs in his 13 overs. He hit seven fours and a six.
Bhui carried on from where Iyer left as found an able ally in Sanju Samson (45 off 53 balls), adding another 68 runs for the fifth wicket in 17.1 overs. Samson also hit a couple of maximums apart from his five hits to the fence.
Bhui was at his offensive best when he was joined by young Assam all-rounder Akash Sengupta (28 batting) as they added another 83 for the unbroken sixth wicket in under 13 overs.
In fact, India D scored runs at a quick clip of more than five and half runs per over and have a realistic chance of going for a win on Sunday, if they can score a few more in an hour and set a 375 run target in 75 overs for the B team.
Brief Scores: India D 349 and 244/5 in 44 overs (Ricky Bhui 90 batting, Shreyas Iyer 50, Sanju Samson 45, Mukesh Kumar 3/80, Navdeep Saini 2/40). India B 282 in 76.2 overs (Abhimanyu Easwaran 116, Washington Sundar 87, Saurabh Kumar 5/73, Arshdeep Singh 3/50). PTI KHS KHS DDV
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