Published: Sep 05, 2016, 12:00 PM (IST)
Edited: Sep 06, 2016, 01:36 PM (IST)
Hello and welcome to CricketCountry’s live cricket blog and live cricket updates post of the Duleep Trophy 2016-17. Here you will get all the live cricket updates of the match between India Blue and India Green. So far in the tournament, India Red are ahead of the two competing teams, having won one match and drawn the other. While Yuvraj Singh’s India Red have already qualified for the final, their opponents are yet to be decided and this match will produce that. Suresh Raina’s India Green have already lost a match and need to win this fixture while Gautam Gambhir and his boys of India Blue have drawn a match. Also read: Duleep Trophy 2016 schedule, squads, venue
Earlier in the match, Gambhir and Co. amassed 336 on Day One of the match itself and are looking totally in command of the game. Their team has a very powerful batting line-up with big names from the domestic circuit. The skipper, along with Mayank Agarwal, provided a very strong start to their innings as usual. Agarwal scored 161 while Gambhir was run out for 90. Cheteshwar Pujara is taking things further, unbeaten at 60 along with Siddhesh Lad at the crease. READ: Former Indian cricketer WV Raman speaks about the use of pink ball in Duleep Trophy
Among the India Green bowlers, Jasprit Bumrah and Ashok Dinda remained successful, taking a wicket each. Jalaj Saxena, though failed to take any wickets so far, have bowled well. Jalaj Saxena is carrying his good form from the previous domestic season and is expected to scalp early wickets on Day Two. India Blue still have a lot of batting left. With Pujara at the crease and well set, the score is expected to set a challenging target for their opponents in the match while names like Dinesh Karthik, Sheldon Jackson and Parvez Rasool are yet to come out and add more runs to the team score.
Mayank Agarwal has been one big force in the batting line-up for India Blue, scoring runs consistently and playing big innings. India Blue’s second match was against India Red which ended in a draw due to rain. India Blue looked quite strong with a 92 from Agarwal.
Agarwal’s opening partner Gambhir is an experienced name and the way Agarwal has matched up to the level of the player. Agarwal is currently the highest run-getter of the tournament with a total of 253 runs, a century, a half-century, hitting 31 boundaries and a couple of sixes.
India Green’s bowling was commendable in the first match as they restricted India Red at 161 in the first innings. Jalaj Saxena was as usual exceptional with a good economy rate but could not bag wickets.
Pink ball and Day-night Tests are a new inclusion to world cricket and the Duleep Trophy is India’s chance to take a call on its usage. Australia and New Zealand have already played with the ball under lights at international level and have come out with positive reviews.
It is a good initiative by Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to take step forward and try the pink cricket ball. Big names like Yuvraj Singh, Gautam Gambhir, Cheteshwar Pujara, Suresh Raina, Robin Uthappa and Parthiv Patel are associated with the series. These players have international level experience in the game and have been match winners for India and trying the new format via these players is a good parameter to decide upon the same.
Gambhir sounded excited about the game and said it is even more so to play under lights. Mentioning about how the ball gets turn, he said as an opener it is very important for him to deal with it. He also compared the situation with SG and Kookaburra ball, saying those types of regular cricket balls also offer similar challenges. The experienced player said it is important for Indian bowlers, especially spinners, to get accustomed to the ball and learn to grip it properly to produce the spin they want to.
Yuvraj also expressed his opinion about the ball, saying it offers a lot more turn. About what he liked the most, the player said, the ball comes onto the bat nicely. While Parthiv Patel said that the ball is easy to spot throughout the day, Robin Uthappa thought it changes colour a bit, from pink to light pink and then orange. He also said it skids and turns more. One very important point that Uthappa mentioned is that it is very hard to produce reverse swing with the pink ball and despite trying many times, the bowlers could not do it with the pink ball.
It also comes as a chance for the players to show the amount of cricket in them, for these players have not represented India for a long time now. However, Yuvraj is a prospect for India’s limited-overs format cricket even now for any major tournaments. India have a very strong core team who are able to pull off heroics but names like Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan lack consistency and given the amount of cricket India play, these players can be picked for any of the upcoming series based upon their performances.
Apart from these, Duleep Trophy is surely a platform for the youngsters and emerging talents. This, like Ranji Trophy, serves as the tournament where experience, new talent and polished ones — all come together in the longer format and there is a fruitful exchange of cricketing knowledge between these players.
The young players get to learn a lot from those who have played at the international level which help them improve their own game. Names like Mayank Agarwal, Jalaj Saxena have played good domestic cricket in the past and will be looking forward to their chance of wearing the national colours.
Squads:
India Green: Robin Uthappa, Jalaj Saxena, Parthiv Patel (wk), Ambati Rayudu, Ian Dev Singh, Rohan Prem, Suresh Raina(c), Harbhajan Singh, Shreyas Gopal, Ashok Dinda, Sandeep Sharma, Ankit Rajpoot, Rajat Paliwal, Jasprit Bumrah, Murali Vijay, Saurabh Tiwary, Pragyan Ojha.
India Blue: Gautam Gambhir(c), Mayank Agarwal, Sheldon Jackson, Baba Aparajith, Siddhesh Lad, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Parvez Rasool, Karaparambil Monish, Krishna Das, Suryakumar Yadav, Mohit Sharma, Pankaj Singh, Shardul Thakur, Cheteshwar Pujara, Hanuma Vihari, Karn Sharma.
