Duleep Trophy 2024: Top three performers from Round 1

Duleep Trophy 2024 got off to a fantastic start as both the first-round matches saw hard-fought encounters, and eventually ended with outright results. Abhimanyu Easwaran-led India B beat Shubman Gill's India A in Bengaluru by 76 runs on Day 4. Meanwhile, Ruturaj Gaikwad's India C got the better of Shreyas Iyer-led India D in Anantapur by four wickets on Day 3.

There were some excellent performances in the two games as the players showcased their skills in the historic red-ball competition and auditioned for places in India's two-match home Test series against Bangladesh.

From Musheer Khan's epic century and Akash Deep's phenomenal five-for in Bengaluru to all-round efforts of Axar Patel and Manav Suthar in Anantapur, let's take a look at the top three performances from the first-round of Duleep Trophy 2024.

A look at top three performers from first-round matches of Duleep Trophy 2024

3. Akash Deep

The Bengal pacer's performance for India A was one of the highlights of the encounter from Bengaluru. Akash Deep is no stranger to bowling at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium as he plies his trade for Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Also Read: WATCH: Akash Deep's five-for restricts India B to 184 in second innings

The right-arm speedster bowled with a lot of steam and finished with figures of 4/60 from 27 overs in the first innings. His delivery to caste Nitish Kumar Reddy was a dream dismissal for a seamer. In the second innings, the 27-year-old delivered the goods once again, picking up five wickets for 56 runs from 14 overs. Deep also showed his batting skills in the fourth innings as his 43 off 42 balls reduced the margin of defeat for India A.

Deep was rewarded for his remarkable performance in the encounter as he was picked in the 16-man squad for India's first Test against Bangladesh, starting on Thursday, September 19.