Deodhar Trophy | Axar Patel, Virat Singh flatter India B as India C end as league toppers

Brief scores: India C 280/5 (Axar Patel 98*, Virat Singh 76*) beat India B 144 all out (Baba Aparajith 53; Mayank Markande 4-25) by 136 runs.

After opting to bat first on a pretty similar wicket as yesterday's match between India A and India C, skipper Shubman Gill walked out to bat alongside Anmolpreet Singh, replacing Mayank Agarwal this time. Fresh of his solid century, Gill was expected to hang in there but was caught at fine leg for 1. Anmolpreet, however, was patient in his approach and along with Priyam Garg, steadied the innings to put on a 53-run stand for the second wicket.

Things seemed to have gone well for the C-team, but India B lost three quick wickets in the space of 29 balls and was reeling at 70/4. The team needed a solid partnership in the middle to keep things going and Dinesh Karthik turned out to be the man. The Tamil Nadu wicket-keeper batsman added 56 runs in the company of Virat Singh but once Nitish Rana castled Karthik in the 32nd over, India C were in danger of being bowled out for a modest total.

However, what started then was absolute carnage, something that was completely unimaginable. Axar Patel counter-attacked almost everyone and with the help of 13 fours and 3 sixes off 61 balls, reached 98. Virat was striking well and the last 10 overs of the innings yielded as many as 122 runs. 

Chasing 281 on a two-paced wicket was going to be tricky and India B openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ruturaj Gaikwad treaded cautiously. However, neither of them were able to open their arms and aim for the skies as the team eventually fell in the trap of ever-rising required run-rate. Baba Aparajith added to his ton earlier in the tournament with 53 this time, but that was never going to be enough in the context of the game. Mayank Markande was the star with the ball for India C as his four wickets resulted in the Parthiv Patel-led team being dismissed for 144, losing the game by 136 runs.