Published: Sep 11, 2016, 01:35 PM (IST)
Edited: Sep 12, 2016, 11:09 AM (IST)
Hello and welcome to CricketCountry’s live cricket blog and live cricket updates post of the Duleep Trophy 2016-17 final. Here you will get all the live cricket updates of Day Two of the match between India Red and India Blue. India Red have an upper hand going into the Day Two of the Duleep Trophy final as they have posted 362 for 3 on first day as Mayank Agarwal and Gautam Gambhir shared another 100-plus partnership as they scored 57 and 94 respectively. Yuvraj Singh led India Red will have to take wickets quickly today in order to stronghold their position in the Duleep Trophy Final. ALSO READ: India Red vs India Blue Live Streaming, Duleep Trophy, Day 2: Watch online match telecast & Live TV Coverage
Gautam Gambhir once again failed to score a century as he fell 6 runs short of the century. Cheteshwar Pujara scored a century as he was given a good platform by Gambhir and Agarwal to build on. Rohit Sharma had a good start as he struck Kuldeep Yadav for a boundary to open his mark. But Rohit departed for 30 to leg-spinner Amit Mishra. After Rohit departed, wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik came in and build the innings along with Pujara. Karthik scored his half century with a decent strike rate. Karthik shared 110-run partnership with Pujara as India Blue are in a good position on the start of Day Two.
It will be a crucial day for both teams as India Blue can pile on runs like they did in previous match scoring 707. On the contrary India Red will be looking to enforce a batting collapse which is a possibility. India Blue suffered a batting collapse in previous game as well, with ball turning on the pitch. With Yadav and Mishra by their side India Red might get the breakthrough they need and get Pujara out early on in the first session. ALSO READ: Duleep Trophy Final, Day 1 Report: Pujara’s hundred anchors India Blue to commanding position
Pujara has made it tough for Rohit to be selected in the Indian squad for New Zealand series. The squad will be announced tomorrow and Pujara has showed exemplary form in day/nigh ‘pink ball’ Duleep Trophy Final with consistent performances. This his second century in the tournament and is still batting along with Karthik looking for another big score like it happened in the previous game against Suresh Raina led India Green.
Shikhar Dhawan has to perform in this match so as to declare himself in the contention of the spot. He has not been consistent lately and their is competition among players for a place in Indian top order, Gambhir will be his direct competitor in this match. Murali Vijay too is in contention for top order batsmen place in the Indian side. Dhawan might open for India Red if they are able to bundle out India Blue on Day Two. They will get tough competition from opener Agarwal who has been consitnent in the top order one after another alongside Gambhir.
As far as spinners are concerned Ravindra Jadeja will get tough competition from leg-spinner Kuldeep Yadav who is the leading wicket-taker in the tournament with 14 wickets under his belt. Jadeja likely to be selected in Indian side will play with pink ball for the very first time. Yadav’s wrong one has been able to trouble the batsmen so far. He will get tough competition from Amit Mishra who will be playing for India Red. Mishra recently looked in good form in second T20I against West Indies in USA taking 3 wickets.
Rohit was quick to get off the blocks getting for the mark via a boundary. Rohit then slowed down in the middle as Pujara was looking in great touch. Rohit made a 56-ball 30 before holding off to Shikhar Dhawan at covers. This handed Mishra his first wicket after toiling hard all day long. Coming in next was Karthik.
Karthik played a swashbuckling cameo of 55 runs along with Pujara. Karthik started off his innings with a boundary but was lucky to survive the next ball. Post that it was the Karthik show who smashed almost every bowler out of the park.Karthik like every other India Blue batsmen went after Mishra, Kuldeep and Binny. Karthik added 40 runs off them in just 48 balls. Karthik was the perfect foil to Pujara who was stuck in the 90′s for a long time.
Both Pujara and Karthik added 120 runs for the fourth wicket playing out 23.3 overs. Karthik was first to achieve his milestone of getting his fifty in 58 balls. This is also his second consecutive half-century Pujara was soon to reach his 100 off 153 balls, which included 12 fours’. This was also his 33rd First-Class ton.Pujara was unbeaten on 111 runs at the end of day’s play, with Karthik remaining unbeaten on 55 runs.
Earlier, Gambhir had won the toss on a seemingly good batting pitch. India Blue announced two changes in the team with Rohit and Jadeja coming in the playing XI from the previous match replacing Siddhesh Lad and Mohit Sharma. Yuvraj Singh led India Red also made as many as three changes in the playing XI with Shikhar Dhawan, Stuart Binny and Amit Mishra coming in.
Squads:
India Blue: Mayank Agarwal, Gautam Gambhir (c), Baba Aparajith, Suryakumar Yadav, Karn Sharma, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Sheldon Jackson, Parvez Rasool, Mohit Sharma, Pankaj Singh, Krishna Das, Abhimanyu Mithun, Siddhesh Lad, Karaparambil Monish, Cheteshwar Pujara, Hanuma Vihari, Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja
India Red: Srikar Bharat(wk), Abhinav Mukund, Sudip Chatterjee, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Yuvraj Singh(c), Nitish Rana, Akshay Wakhare, Kuldeep Yadav, Pradeep Sangwan, Ishwar Pandey, Nathu Singh, Ankush Bains, Anureet Singh, Abhimanyu Mithun, Shikhar Dhawan, Stuart Binny, Amit Mishra
