India D 164 and 206 for 8 (Padikkal 56, Iyer 54, Suthar 5-30) lead India C 168 (Indrajith 72, Rana 4-33, Saransh 2-16) by 202 runs
Left-arm spinner Manav Suthar and fast bowler Harshit Rana stood out on the second day in Anantapur, which also belonged to the bowlers. In all, 14 wickets fell in 78.2 overs with India D closing out the day with a lead of 202.
Counterattacking fifties from Shreyas Iyer and Devdutt Padikkal led India D's progress but the five wickets they lost in the final session on day two pegged them back.
Suthar took all five of them in the last 15 overs of the day, with the pitch in Anantapur offering sharp turn and bounce. Ricky Bhui scored 44 to help drag India D's total past 200 while Axar Patel remained unbeaten on 11 at stumps.
The day had started with Rana adding to his overnight figures of 2 for 13 by trapping Abhishek Porel lbw and then dismissing Suthar to reduce India C to 101 for 6.
B Indrajith (72) then revived the innings and helped India C snatch the first-innings lead though Aditya Thakare and Arshdeep Singh removed Hrithik Shokeen and Vijaykumar Vyshak cheaply. Indrajith then found support from Anshul Kamboj and scored five fours in Axar's spell on his way past fifty.
Madhya Pradesh offspinner Saransh Jain then knocked over Kamboj and Indrajith in successive overs to dismiss India C for 168 and turn the game into a single-innings shootout.
Vyshak was accurate with the new ball and removed both Yash Dubey and Atharva Taide in the first six overs. But Shreyas tackled a tricky situation with aggression as India D maintained a run rate of around six till he was out in the 15th over. He was severe against anything full and hit nine fours and a six in 44 balls. He tried to swing a fullish ball from Kamboj over long-on but holed out to India C captain Ruturaj Gaikwad.
Padikkal got off to a quick start as well and shared half-century stands with Shreyas and Bhui during his 70-ball 56. Six of his eight boundaries came off Vyshak and Kamboj's bowling. Suthar had Padikkal and Bhui out defending and looked to extract big turn from the rough, which tempted KS Bharat and Arshdeep Singh into attempting lofted shots and holing out.
The conditions could help Suthar - and Axar - add to their wickets tally on day three.
