Anantapur, Sep 7 (IANS) Left-arm spinner Manav Suthar converted his five-wicket haul into seven wickets while skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad, Aryan Juyal and Rajat Patidar played crucial knocks as India C defeated India D by four wickets in a Duleep Trophy first round match at the Gramin Vikas Trust Stadium here on Saturday.

India D resumed at 206/8 in the morning. But they managed to add only 30 runs to the total as Suthar dismissed Axar Patel for 28 and then Aditya Thakare to finish with impressive figures of 7-49 in 19.1 overs, including seven maidens, to set India C a target of 233 for victory. Suthar received the Player of the Match award.

Chasing the target, India C got off to a great start as Gaikwad and Sai Sudarshan hit consecutive boundaries off Harshit Rana and Arshdeep Singh to bring up their half-century opening partnership in just 6.3 overs. The duo eventually put on a 64-run opening stand but left-handed Sudarshan was caught by Ricky Bhui off offspinner Saransh Jain.

Four overs later, Saransh came back and had Gaikwad caught by Shreyas Iyer, dismissing him for 46. Juyal and Patidar combined to hit ten boundaries and take India C back towards the target. But Saransh came back and had Patidar stumped, while Juyal was caught in the deep off Arshdeep.

After Baba Indrajith and Hrithik Shokeen fell cheaply, India C were reduced to 198/6 and needed 35 runs to win with four wickets in hand. Abhishek Porel (35 not out) and Suthar (19 not out) held their nerve and chased down the target in 61 overs to win the match in three days. With six points, India C will now take on India B in the second round on September 12 at Anantapur.

Brief Score:

India D 164 and 236 in 59.1 overs (Devdutt Padikkal 56, Shreyas Iyer 54; Manav Suthar 7-49) lost to India C 168 and 233/6 in 61 overs (Aryan Juyal 47, Ruturaj Gaikwad 46; Saransh Jain 4-92) by four wickets.

–IANS

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