Sanju Samson and Navdeep Saini shone for India D and India B, respectively, in their last-round match of the Duleep Trophy 2024-25 at the Rural Development Trust Stadium B in Anantapur on Friday.
Samson scored a quickfire century (106 off 101 balls) to guide India D to a healthy first-innings total of 349. His 11th first-class century was studded with 12 fours and three sixes.
Meanwhile, Navdeep Saini impressed with the ball picking up his sixth five-wicket haul in first-class cricket to apply brakes on the India D innings after the Samson show. He finished with a spell of 5/74 that brought India B back into the match on the second day.
Sanju walked in at number six with India D, after a solid start, losing two quick wickets to be placed at 175/4. Samson started off aggressively and consolidated the India D innings with quick runs.
Samson, who plays for Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League, added 41 with Ricky Bhui for the fifth wicket to see India D out of the woods. He then put on 91 runs with Saransh Jain to take the team past the 300-run mark.
Sanju Samson was caught by Nitish Kumar Reddy off Navdeep Saini on 106 with the score reading 331. Saini, who had earlier picked up the wicket of Devdutt Padikkal on the first day, then cleaned up India D’s lower order.
Saini, who is also part of the Royals, then castled both Akash Sengupta and Arshdeep Singh to reach his fifer.
India D lost their last five wickets for just 42 runs with Saini playing a role in all of those. He picked up four wickets and also effected a run-out, in between, to finish proceedings before lunch on the second morning.
Apart from Samson, Padikkal, Srikar Bharat and Bhui scored half-centuries on day one to serve India D’s cause. Saini received good support from Rahul Chahar, who chipped in with three wickets for India B.
Saini had also scored a half-century and picked up five wickets in the match for India B in the Duleep Trophy 2024 opener against India A earlier this month.
Meanwhile, Avesh Khan scored his second fifty in first-class cricket in the other last-round match as India A posted 297 against India C in Anantapur. Avesh smashed five fours and four sixes to remain unbeaten on 51 from just 68 balls.
Avesh had a crucial 90-run partnership with centurion Shashwat Rawat that rescued India A from a precarious 154/7. Once Shashwat departed Avesh joined hands with fellow Royal Prasidh Krishna (34) to add 42 invaluable runs to the India A total.
