Rahane, Kishan steer India C to Deodhar title

NEWDELHI: Ajinkya Rahane’s credentials as a limited-overs batsman have never been in doubt. His 106 against England in Birmingham in 2014 and 79 against South Africa at Melbourne in the 2015 World Cup underline his value playing overseas.

However, since his 2011 debut, he hasn’t had a settled ODI spot and finds himself on the sidelines. With skipper Virat Kohli making his confidence in Ambati Rayudu as No 4 for the World Cup clear, Rahane’s hopes don’t look bright.

Having chosen to bat first in the Deodhar Trophy final against India A at the Ferozeshah Kotla ground on Saturday, Rahane scored an unbeaten 144 as India C beat India B by 29 runs.Once India C amassed 352/7, with young Ishant Kishan’s 114 (87 b, 11x4, 6x6) and his 210-run opening stand with Rahane (156 b, 9x4, 3x6) setting it up, India A skipper Shreyas Iyer’s century (148 off 114 balls) alone wasn’t going to be enough as his team was 323 all out in 46.1 overs. And Rajneesh Gurbani, Navdeep Saini and Vijay Shankar took two wickets each and Pappu Roy, the unfancied Odisha left-arm spinner claimed 3/75.

With R Samarth and Abhinav Mukund failing to click, Rahane promoted Kishan to open. Rahane was more positive to start with. He was cautious against offspinner K Gowtham but attacked pacer Deepak Chahar. Kishan struggled against the moving ball initially. It has been a great season for Kishan, 20, who was Jharkhand’s top run-getter (405) in the recent Vijay Hazare Trophy.

In Deodhar Trophy, his 69 and a 121-run stand with Shubman Gill helped defeat India A. India B suffered an early blow when in-form opener Mayank Agarwal (14) fell to Gurbani. No 3 Iyer and Ruturaj Gaikwad forged a 116run partnership for the second wicket. But once Gaikwad (60) fell, India B lost the plot and Iyer ran out of partners.

Brief scores: India C 352/7 in 50 overs (A Rahane 144*, I Kishan 114; J Unadkat 3/52) beat India B 323 in 46.1 overs (S Iyer 148; P Roy 3-75) by 29 runs.