Duleep Trophy 2024, India C vs India D, Day 2 Review: Manav Suthar picks five; Indrajith, Shreyas, Padikkal star

Much like India D on the opening Day, India C struggled with the bat in their first innings on the second day of the 2024 Duleep Trophy contest. They lost back-to-back wickets and were in trouble but Baba Indrajith held one end to bail the team out of trouble. The Chennai-born cricketer, who recently switched sides and joined Kerala, made 72. He stitched a valuable 54-run partnership with Abhishek Porel as India C posted 168 in the first innings, taking a negligible lead of four runs.

Porel made 34 before Harshit Rana got the better of him. The ace pacer had a sensational time with the ball in the opening game of the domestic season as he picked up four wickets. Meanwhile, the tailenders failed to contribute much with the bat as India C bowlers had a good time in the middle. Axar Patel and Saransh Jain picked two each.

In the second innings, India D made a sensational comeback with the bat even as openers Atharva Taide and Yash Dubey failed to get going. Shreyas Iyer and Devdutt Padikkal showed their class, hitting a half-century each. Shreyas particularly played an aggressive brand of cricket and struck 54 off just 44 balls, before falling to Manav Suthar. 

Padikkal, meanwhile, made 56 while Ricky Bhui amassed 44. Suthar had a terrific day on the field, picking up five wickets on Day 2. India D finished the day with 206/8 on the board and are leading by 202 runs. They would hope to extend the lead further on Day 3 as the responsibility once again lies on the shoulders of Axar Patel.

The all-rounder was terrific with the bat in the first innings as he scored 86 runs and would hope to keep up with the momentum. Meanwhile, chasing anything over 250 runs in the final innings would be extremely difficult for India C.