India B's Rishabh Pant sneaked his way into India A's team huddle on Day 4.© X (Twitter)
A hilarious moment was captured on Day 4 of the Duleep Trophy match between India A and India B in Bengaluru. Before the start of the final day's play, India B star Rishabh Pant decided to poke fun at the India A players with a hilarious act. As India A captain Shubman Gill was giving a speech to the players, Pant sneaked his way into the team huddle. While Gill and some of the players were unfazed by Pant's shenanigans, pacer Avesh Khan decided to have a conversation with the India B star.
— BCCI Domestic (@BCCIdomestic) September 8, 2024
Here's how internet reacted:
— The Pullshot (@The_pullshot) September 8, 2024
Agent Rishabh Pant
— Adi (@playerof11) September 8, 2024
Real imposter
— Rohit.Bishnoi (@The_Kafir_boy) September 8, 2024
Meanwhile, India B were closing in on a victory after reducing India A to 132/6 at Tea. KL Rahul was batting on 50 while Kuldeep Yadav was also not out on a score of 6.
Yash Dayal made early inroads with the ball after India B were bowled out for 184 in the second innings. Dayal claimed the wickets of Mayank Agarwal, Riyan Parag and Dhruv Jurel to put India A on the backfoot.
On Day 3, a counter-attacking 61 by wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant, where he showed glimpses of his best self with the bat, helped India B extend their lead to 240 runs against India A at stumps.
On a day on which 14 wickets fell, Navdeep Saini and Mukesh Kumar led the way for India B to take a first-innings lead of 90 after bowling out India A for 231 in 72.4 overs. In their second innings, India B lost three wickets quickly - two of which were taken by Akash Deep.
Under pressure, Pant stitched a stand of 72 runs off 55 balls for the fourth wicket with Sarfaraz Khan (46 off 36 balls) and went to get his first fifty on return to red-ball cricket. But with him and Nitish Kumar Reddy falling in the last 30 minutes meant India A got something to smile, even though India B have a big lead in hand now.
In the morning, resuming from 134/2 in 35 overs, India B found early success as Yash Dayal strangled Riyan Parag down leg, with Pant moving across to his left to complete the catch. Saini came in to trap Dhruv Jurel lbw, followed by Washington Sundar getting some sharp dip and turning to castle a paddle-sweeping K.L Rahul.
Shivam Dube was in hit-and-miss mode during his stay at the crease, before edging to a second slip off Mukesh, who then trapped Kuldeep Yadav lbw. Tanush Kotian showed some fight, but an inside edge popping to the short leg off R Sai Kishore ended his resistance. After Mukesh had Akash caught at short leg, Kishore ended India A's innings in 72.4 overs by castling Khaleel Ahmed.
(With PTI Inputs)