Published: Aug 31, 2018, 11:45 PM (IST)
Edited: Aug 31, 2018, 11:45 PM (IST)
Riding on UP left-arm spinner Saurabh Kumar’s five-wicket haul, India Blue took an 83-run lead over India Green on a rain-truncated third day of the final Duleep Trophy league match on Friday.
This essentially seals a finals berth for India Blue after they scored 340 runs in their first dig.
Skipper Parthiv Patel top-scored with 80 after opener Prashant Chopra had made same amount of runs the previous day. However, India Green kept losing wickets at the other end with Kumar removing Gurkeerat Mann (20) and Harpreet Singh Bhatia (3).
Parthiv Patel then combined with Aditya Sarwate (11) for a 40-run stand for the seventh wicket but soon fell to Kumar with India Green at 231.
Jaydev Unadkat cleaned up the tail to finish with impressive figures of 4 for 16 from 10.5 overs. Armed with a lead, India Green reached 21 for no loss when rain interrupted play at 4.28 PM.
Persistent rain forced the umpires to call off play at 7.30 PM, an hour ahead of the scheduled close.
India Red has already booked a spot in the final, beginning on September 4.
Brief Scores: India Blue 340 & 21/0 lead India Green 257 (Prashant Chopra 80, PArthiv Patel 80; Saurabh Kumar 5/98) by 104 runs.
