Published: Sep 06, 2016, 10:04 PM (IST)
Edited: Sep 06, 2016, 10:08 PM (IST)
India Blue continue their good run as the team ends the day with a 555-run lead against India Green. India Blue had a superb first innings in the match of Duleep Trophy, having posted a target of 708 for Green to chase. India Green batsmen failed to perform, getting all out for 237, handing their opponents a 470-run lead. Gambhir decided to carry on batting and Day Three ended with 85 runs for the India Blue in the second innings. Gambhir remains unbeaten at 36 and Agarwal at 49 at stumps of Day Three. FULL CRICKET UPDATES: India Blue vs India Green, Duleep Trophy 2016-17
India Green did not start off things as they wanted. One of their most experienced and talented batsmen, Murali Vijay, departed for a mere 6. It was just 4 overs since the start of their innings and Karn Sharma bowled Vijay as the batsman went for the wrong shot, exposing the stumps completely. India Green went on losing wickets one after another. Jalaj Saxena, who had a good time in the last Raji Trophy season, failed to make any positive impact for his team, as he edged an Abhimanyu Mithun delivery to wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik.
Robin Uthappa looked to settle things a bit with Saurabh Tiwary, but could not add more than 41. Tiwary looked in a good touch, with some nice shots. Starting his innings, Tiwary’s shots looked well-executed and eventually he found gaps and sent them for fours. But the player remained unlucky to get run out for 26. Pujara: Difficult to pick googly under lights with pink ball
Parthiv Patel remained the highest scorer for the side among the top-five batsmen. Parthiv took his time and gradually built the innings to take his score to half-century, remaining the first player of the top five players to reach the landmark. But he did not get support from the other end. Shreyas Gopal contributed with a 26 down the order but it did not seem to make much difference.
Though Karn Sharma was the one to give India Blue their first breakthrough, it was Abhimanyu Mithun who bowled exceptionally well. Both the bowlers picked up 3 wickets each, but Mithun finished with a better economy. Pankaj Singh bagged a couple of wickets while Parvez Rasool bagged a solitary wicket. Virat Kohli could miss Duleep Trophy final
The next man in, Suresh Raina one of the few to perform with the bat and scored a much-needed 52 coming down the order. Raina’s innings showed determination and grit. The player took time, found gap and made his way to the milestone. The player could not find a proper partner at the other end and had to do it all by himself lower down the order.
Gautam Gambhir decided not to implement follow on and India Green went on to bat. Gambhir and Agarwal looked quite comfortable to bat and brought up 50 for their side as the bowlers remained unsuccessful. The two have formed one of the most successful opening pairs of the tournament and remained not out at the end of Day Three. While Gambhir remained not out for 36, Agarwal is one run short of the second half-century of the tournament.
The first innings went completely in favour of India Blue as they put up a humongous 707 in that innings. Mayank Agarwal has been a consistent performer for the side and maintained his form to contribute massively in making the total big. At stumps of Day One, India Blue were 336 for the loss of 3 wickets. Gambhir put all the experience of the game into action to score a 90 and played a perfect partner to Agarwal. The 25-year-old batsman scored his first century of the tournament and kept batting to put up 161. Cheteshwar Pujara, who remained unbeaten at 60 at stumps, took his score to 166 and was the second centurion for the side. However, he was not the last one to hit a century as Sheldon Jackson, coming out to bat at No. 7, played a very good knock to build brief yet run-fetching partnerships to get to his 100. Dinesh Karthik’s 48 looked good while another commendable effort was that of Karn Sharma who scored 57 batting at No. 9.
India Red, led by Yuvraj Singh, have already reached the final of the tournament with a win and a draw. They defeated Suresh Raina’s India Green in their first match. Though India Red could not score more than 161 in their first innings of that match, India Green batsmen failed to chase that in their first innings, ending it with 151 runs. The second innings went in favour of the India Red boys as they scored two centuries and a half-century in it. Opener Abhinav Mukund scored 169, No. 3 batsman Sudeip Chatterjee scored 114 while Gurkeerat Singh scored 82 to take the team’s score to 486. Though Robin Uthappa scored a 72 opening the innings, there was not much contribution from the rest of the top-order batsmen. Suresh Raina remained the highest scorer of the innings with his 90 and wa sthe lone warrior in the middle and lower-middle-order. India Green completed their innings with 277 runs, handing their opponents a 219-run victory.
One evident problem that comes up from the the way India Green played is the fact that their bowlers are facing problems to handle the newest inclusion, the pink cricket ball. In the second innings of their first match and in both the innings of the next, India Green bowlers failed to pick up wickets early in the innings, which helped the batting side settle down well and play comfortably which resulted in big totals to chase for their batsmen.
Duleep Trophy this year has a lot of advancements. The tournament is being played with a pink ball and under the lights, which brings in a brand new experience to the players associated to the tournament. With the tournament, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) have found a perfect parameter to test the pink ball and if it can be used to play with in India.
Brief scores:
India Blue 707 (Mayank Agarwal 161, Gautam Gambhir 90, Cheteshwar Pujara 166, Sheldon Jackson 105, Karn Sharma 56; Ashok Dinda 2 for 114, Shreyas Gopal 5 for 173) and 85/0 (Gautam Gambhir 36*, Mayank Agarwal 49*; Jasprit Bumrah 0 for 12, Jalaj Saxena 0 for 12) vs India Green 237 (Robin Uthappa 41, Parthiv Patel 55, Suresh Raina 52; Karn Sharma 3 for 74, Abhimanyu Mithun 3 for 16)
