With the final day’s proceedings reduced to serving just academic interest, India Blue batsmen Sheldon Jackson and Dinesh Karthik used the opportunity against India Green to get in some useful batting practice ahead of the Duleep Trophy final starting here on September 10.
Once Blue’s passage to the title-clash against India Red was secured following its 470-run first-innings lead on Tuesday, the final day’s formalities leading to the inevitable draw held very little interest.
For the record, Blue resumed its second innings at 85 without loss and ended at 298 in just 66.2 overs.
Trailing by 768 runs, Green ended at 179 for four when the play was called off with 13 mandatory overs remaining.
Skipper Suresh Raina stayed away from the day’s action but his teammates M. Vijay and Robin Uthappa helped themselves to half centuries.
Earlier, Blue’s openers Gautam Gambhir and Mayank Agarwal, unbeaten overnight, compiled half-centuries but could not go too far before playing on, in quick succession, to deliveries from Jalaj Saxena.
First-inning centurion Jackson scored an entertaining unbeaten 77-ball 79 after Karthik had scored a 45-ball 57.
Even as Blue batsmen scored at a brisk rate, wickets fell at regular intervals.
The biggest gainer was leg-spinner Shreyas Gopal who added four more in the innings to finish with nine wickets in the match.
Ojha rushed to hospitalPragyan Ojha, who took three wickets, had to be wheeled out of the field on a stretcher following a blow on the back of his head.
While fielding at mid-on, Ojha was preparing to stop a drive from Pankaj Singh when the ball took a bad bounce. Involuntarily, Ojha took his eyes off the ball and turned away, copping it on the back of his head.
An unconscious Ojha was rushed to a nearby hospital in a well-equipped ambulance — thanks to an alert match referee — and a scan was taken. Ojha was back in the dressing room before the match was called off.
The scores:
India Blue — 1st innings: 707
India Green — 1st innings: 237
India Blue — 2nd innings: Mayank Agarwal b Saxena 58 (116b, 7x4) , Gautam Gambhir b Saxena 59 (90b, 7x4) , Cheteshwar Pujara c sub b Ojha 31 (35b, 5x4) , Siddhesh Lad c Vijay b Dinda 1 (10b) , Dinesh Karthik c Parthiv b Gopal 57 (45b, 10x4) , Sheldon Jackson (not out) 79 (77b, 6x4, 5x6) , Parveez Rasool c sub b Gopal 0 (1b) , Karn Sharma c & b Ojha 0 (1b) , A. Mithun c Tiwary b Gopal 3 (12b) , Mohit Sharma c Dinda b Ojha 1 (7b) , Pankaj Singh b Gopal 6 (7b, 1x4) , Extras (nb-3) 3; Total (in 66.2 overs) 298.
Fall of wickets: 1-118, 2-119, 3-126, 4-180, 5-226, 6-226, 7-227, 8-244, 9-272.
India Green bowling: Ashoke Dinda 8-2-29-1, Jasprit Bumrah 8-2-24-0, Ankit Rajpoot 6-1-25-0, Pragyan Ojha 17-0-90-3, Jalaj Saxena 17-0-77-2, Shreyas Gopal 10.2-0-53-4.
India Green — 2nd innings: M. Vijay c Mohit b Karn 73 (96b, 10x4, 2x6) , Jalaj Saxena c Karn b Pankaj 7 (6b, 1x4) , Robin Uthappa c Jackson b Karn 66 (61b, 12x4, 1x6) , Saurabh Tiwary (not out) 20 (24b, 2x4, 1x6) , Parthiv Patel lbw b Rasool 9 (7b, 1x4) , Shreyas Gopal (not out) 3 (10b), Extras (w-1) 1; Total (for four wickets in 34 overs) 179.
Fall of wickets: 1-17, 2-133, 3-159, 4-168.
India Blue bowling: Pankaj Singh 6-2-29-1, Mohit Sharma 6-1-29-0, A. Mithun 4-1-15-0, Karn Sharma 10-1-68-2, Parveez Rasool 5-1-27-1, Cheteshwar Pujara 1-0-4-0, Mayank Agarwal 1-0-2-0, Dinesh Karthik 1-0-5-0.
