Abhimanyu Easwaran in action© X (formerly Twitter)
India B opener Abhimanyu Easwaran continued to bat confidently as he scored a defiant century to guide his team to 309 for 7 against India C, which still looked in control to enforce a follow-on in their Duleep Trophy match on Saturday. Despite Easwaran's unbeaten 143, India B trail India C by 216 runs and require 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. The Day 3 of the tie belonged to the India B skipper, who scored a patient 262-ball 143 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 on its knees.
Undaunted by the fall of wickets at the other end, Bengal batter Easwaran kept frustrating the India C bowlers, though he still has work to do on Sunday to avoid a follow-on.
Commencing the day at 124 for no loss with Easwaran (overnight 51 not out) and Narayan Jagadeesan (overnight 67 not out) holding fort, India B were rattled quite early when Kamboj struck in only the fourth over of the morning session.
The 23-year-old Haryana pacer, 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 batter caught by wicket-keeper Abhishek Porel for 70, thus breaking the 129-run partnership.
Kamboj then had brothers Musheer and Sarfaraz Khan cheaply for 1 and 16 runs respectively before accounting for hard-hitter Rinku Singh (6) and Nithis Kumar Reddy (2) to completely destabilise India B.
At 194 for 5, things looked bleak for Easwaran's side, but the skipper took it upon himself to shore up his side amid some hostile bowling by Kamboj. He stitched together a 43-run partnership with Washington Sundar (13) and then a 46-run stand with Sai Kishore (21) to repair the damage.
At stumps, Rahul Chahar (18 not out) was giving Easwaran company but with just three wickets left, it could be a difficult task for India B to avoid a follow-on.
India C skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad could even decide against enforcing a follow-on, given tomorrow is the last day of the contest and they are assured of three vital points on the basis of first innings lead.
However, if Gaikwad enforces the follow-on and wins the match, his team will earn six points.