Gautam Gambhir‘s India Blue play on Day 2 of their first match of Duleep Trophy 2016-17 against Yuvraj Singh’s India Red. Catch the live cricket streaming of the second game in the ongoing Duleep Trophy 2016-17, between the India Red and India Blue on starsports.com. India Red have won their first match and have the advantage but India Blue have also started things off well in their series opener. On Day 1, Gambhir’s boys did not lose a single wicket. Rain interrupted the match and the officials were compelled to call it off. At stumps of Day 1, India Blue were 105 for no loss of wickets. Duleep Trophy Live updates: India’s first Pink ball tournament, IND Blue vs IND Red
Day 1 was very fruitful for India Blue. While skipper Gambhir was the obvious choice as an opener, Mayank Agarwal accompanied him. Gambhir’s experience reflected from the way he batted, reaching his half-century. At the other end, it was blissful to see Agarwal matching up to the senior’s level and scoring his individual half-century. Both took the score post 100. India Blue were at 105 with both their openers at the crease while it started raining. Bad weather conditions interrupted the play of Day 1 completely.
This is the first match for Gautam Gambhir with the pink ball under lights and the player is excited. Talking to Hindustan Times, he said, “It (pink ball cricket) is very exciting, especially when lights are on. I am looking forward to it. I know the pink ball does move a bit, but as an opener I have to deal with it. That challenge is always there, even against the red SG or Kookaburra balls. However, as professional cricketers, we must be ready. And the spinners have to get used to gripping the pink ball.”
“It comes down to mindset. The basics of the game remain the same. You still have to negotiate the new ball, and first session of first day is going to be crucial. I am not reading too much into it. Maybe the players were a bit nervous considering that it was the first day of the domestic season. Once the nerves go away and you hit the game mode, things do get easy. I haven’t seen the wicket yet, but having the right mindset is important,” Gambhir said.
“A lot of people have told me to focus on individual performance in Duleep Trophy. Well, that’s not going to happen under me. We will be playing as a team and to win the tournament. That’s the way cricket should be played,” he concluded.
Yuvraj, Gambhir’s opponent, seemed excited after India Red’s victory. “I thought the pink ball moved a bit more than the SG ball. It was pretty exciting, the pink ball doesn’t go old. It was coming onto the bat nicely.”
Wicketkeeper-batsman Parthiv Patel said, “I had no problem in sighting. During the day, I could see the ball better. Not used to getting the pink ball coming to you. It’s a matter of getting used to it but visibility was not a problem. As far as future is concerned, too early to say. Definitely there is a future. But dew could be a factor. The ball skid and moved more. Also I don’t think you can have Tests in sub-continent using this much of grass.”
However, Robin Uthappa disclosed a very interesting fact. “We tried hard but there was no reverse swing. There is conventional swing but the shine is maintained so well that there is no chance of reverse swing. I also found that colour varied at different times of the day. At one point, it looked light pink, followed by orange at one point of time before it looked bright pink under lights. I think we will get used to it as much as we play.”
This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Strictly Necessary Cookies
Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.
If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.