Shams Mulani, Tanush Kotian fifties rescue India A after batting collapse

Stumps • Starts 4:00 AM

Day 1 – India D chose to field.

India A 288 for 8 (Mulani 88*, Kotian 53, Kaverappa 2-30, Harshit 2-49) vs India D

Shams Mulani rescued India A from 93 for 5 with an unbeaten 88 that lifted them to 288 for 8 at stumps on the opening day of their second round Duleep Trophy fixture, against India D. Thus, Mulani will have a shot at a maiden first-class ton when play resumes on Friday.

He was ably supported by Tanush Kotian, his Mumbai team-mate, who struck 53 in a crucial 91-run stand for the seventh wicket after India A were 144 for 6.

India A were put in to bat by India D captain Shreyas Iyer, and were in trouble when seamer Vidwath Kaverappa dismissed Mayank Agarwal and Pratham Singh in a fiery first spell to reduce them to 21 for 2.

Kaverappa, part of BCCI’s target pool of fast bowlers, got the ball to rear up awkwardly off a good length, and troubled both batters with late movement. Agarwal was squared up as he nicked off, while Pratham, who replaced Shubman Gill in the XI, miscued a pull to long leg.

Riyan Parag counterattacked for India A, and broke the shackles against Kaverappa by lofting him imperiously down the ground for a six. But his innings was cut short when he slashed at an away-going delivery from Arshdeep Singh to the slips. Parag’s 37 came off just 29 balls.

Four balls later, it was Tilak Varma’s turn to depart when he was done in by offspinner Saransh Jain, stuck to the crease and beaten by both the length and the turn, as he jabbed at a delivery that turned sharply, with Iyer taking a simple catch at slip.

After Shashwat Rawat also fell, Kumar Kushagra briefly kept the fight going to make a defiant 28, until he became Arshdeep’s second victim. This is when the Mumbai pair of Mulani and Kotian stepped up and batted for 27 overs to frustrate the bowlers as conditions got considerably easier to bat on towards the end of a hot day.

Kotian was the more enterprising of the two, pouncing on anything lose, and hitting six fours and a six in his 12th first-class half-century. He was dismissed by left-arm spinner Saurabh Kumar, who had wheeled away without much success until then.

In the last half hour, Harshit Rana struck to dismiss the returning Prasidh Krishna. The Karnataka seamer is making a comeback after seven months in the wilderness due to a quadricep injury. Having made his Test debut in South Africa in late 2023, Prasidh had been on the selectors’ radar for his ability to extract steep bounce before his injury came to light.

On Friday, he’ll have an opportunity to prove his bowling fitness against a quality India D line-up that will be looking to push the game forward after being beaten outright in their previous game.

Shashank Kishore is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo