Dinesh Karthik slammed his 26th First-Class ton (Image courtesy: Getty)
Dinesh Karthik slammed his 26th First-Class ton (Image courtesy: Getty)

The second session of Day Three of the first match in Duleep Trophy 2017 belonged to India Red batters at Lucknow. Priyank Panchal, the chief architect of Gujarat s Ranji Trophy triumph earlier this year, slammed his 13th First-Class ton. This is his second century in the match. He was well supported by his skipper Dinesh Karthik, who went on to register his 26th First-Class century. The second session was more about Karthik s stroke play. He began cautiously before attacking the India Green bowlers.

India Red declared their innings at 307 for 2, setting up a target of 474. Not a single wicket fell in the second session of Day Three as India Red look favourites to cruise to a win.

The duo registered an unbeaten 181-run stand from 233 balls. While Panchal followed up his 105 with a composed 213-ball 133 not out, Karthik was the aggressor and scored his century from only 124 balls, in an innings consisting 9 fours and 2 sixes. Earlier, Panchal had shared 114-run stand for the second wicket with Rahul Singh, who departed for 54. Karthik had scored a fifty in the first innings as well. Murali Vijay claimed both wickets from this innings.

India Green have almost 4 sessions to chase down the huge score and have talent in form of Vijay and Parthiv Patel. Vijay, who has already taken 5 wickets in the match, is expected to deliver with the bat.

Earlier, India Green were bowled out for 157, responding to India Red s 323. It was spinners Karn Sharma and Krishnappa Gowtham, who bagged 4 and 5 wickets respectively.

India Red 323 (Priyank Panchal 105, Sudip Chatterjee 52, Dinesh Karthik 50; Murali Vijay 3 for 46) & 307 for 2 (Priyank Panchal 133*, Rahul Singh 54, Dinesh Karthik 100*; Murali Vijay 2 for 26) lead India Green 157 (Prashant Chopra 65; Karn Sharma 4 for 39, Krishnappa Gowtham 5 for 46) lead by 473 runs.