The usual 'suspects' turned out better on the day, and then the Feroz Shah Kotla pitch too decided to play suspect. It was a squeeze-grind-and-knead style of play which tested the skills and character of the cricketer but also ended up testing the patience of the sparse crowd that saw a less fancied India B topple their more illustrious counterparts in India A to get a step closer to the final.
Mayank Aggarwal, Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari and Manoj Tiwary got starts and runs as well which was enough to pull their side through to a 43-run win, but the stage belonged to Dinesh Karthik who was unfortunate to miss his century by one run --- he was caught and bowled by Shahbaz Nadeem for 99 --- and more unfortunate that his tact couldn’t pull India A through to a modest chase of 262.
Karthik, who was nearly timed out when coming out to bat, fumbling to get ready after back to back dismissals of Prithvi Shaw and Karun Nair off Shahbaz Nadeem and his own little rituals before entering the field of play, showed trademark calmness in the middle while rotating the strike and dealt with drastic slowness of the pitch and perils of a scuffed up ball amicably. He was clinical in the using the pace of the ball and timing it perfectly against the faster bowlers Deepak Chahar and Varun Aaron while deftly finding gaps against the spinners to keep the score ticking.
Karthik kept looking for support from the other end; found it initially in Anmolpreet and then more steadily in R Ashwin, who showed his utility with the bat scoring 54. Ashwin and Karthik put on 123 runs for the sixth wicket in 23 overs before Ashwin lost his wicket trying to up the ante. Karthik followed soon, and the innings which raised hopes of a remarkable comeback win befitting the seasoned pros in the XI, exploded at the exit of Karthik to fold out for 218 in just 46.4 overs.
The chase was always difficult when the first ball of the match squatted through and went one bounce to the keeper but India A was also unlucky when Prithvi Shaw got a bad decision from an umpire who judged him out lbw when there was a clear inside edge. Nadeem, as usual, was lethal playing domestic cricket but Mayank Markande got his fame with four wickets to wipe out the tail quickly.
Credit is also due to India B batsmen in parts. Shreyas Iyer won a crucial toss and and then got off to a good start with Mayank Aggarwal despite losing Rituraj Gaikwad but threw his wicket away for a 47-ball 41. Aggarwal too frittered away a start to depart for 46 and it was left to Hanuma Vihari and Manoj Tiwary to bail the side out. They did as well, stitching up a partnership of 99 but a massive mix-up ended their partnership and Tiwary’s innings of 52. Vihari was almost left to fend for himself with a late collapse but steered his innings nicely for an unbeaten 87 from 95 balls with 9 boundaries to his credit.
In the end, Karthik and Vihari both resurrected their team’s respective innings, Vihari remained in the crease to see his team through. Karthik couldn’t. And that probably made the difference of two points.