‌Duleep Trophy | Twin centurions from Pratham and Tilak keep India A ahead on moving day

New batter, Tilak Varma kicked off the day with a four off Shreyas Iyer who outwitted Mayank Agarwal on the last ball of Day 2. His partner, Pratham Singh was observative at the start before getting occasional boundaries to move to the eighty-run mark. While Varma slowed down in the middle, Pratham struck a six and a couple of fours against Vidwath Kaverappa to bring up his maiden Duleep Trophy ton in the 49th over. Subsequently, a period of 57 balls followed without any boundary, leading to the Railways opener’s dismissal in the 60th over. Soon, Tilak notched up a fifty under Riyan Parag’s presence at the stroke of Lunch with the score reading 260/2 in 67 overs. 

The Assam batter failed to convert his start yet again in the tournament after throwing away his wicket in an attempt of a loose aerial stroke. Shashwat Rawat entered the fray and caressed a few free-flowing boundaries against Arshdeep Singh before using the sweeps and reverse sweeps against the spinners. With the introduction of part-time spinners in Shreyas and Atharva Taide, the left-handed pair found it easy to milk the ball and keep the scoreboard ticking. Eventually, both batters neared their respective landmarks as Shashwat scored a fifty followed by Tilak racking up a fine century to wrap up the second session for 370/3 in 96 overs. 

After playing a couple of overs and adding ten runs to the tally, Mayank Agarwal summoned the batters, signaling a declaration with 488 runs to defend.

Openers, Atharva Taide and Yash Dubey failed to offer a decent start with Khaleel Ahmed drawing first blood early in the innings. Subsequently, Ricky Bhui entered the fray and counterattacked the opposition bowlers while Dubey played second fiddle to him in bringing yo the 50-run mark in the 16th over. The pair continued to withstand the spin attack from the Agarwal-led side until Stumps with 426 runs more needed to ensure a win.