Abhimanyu Easwaran (102 batting, 173b, 11x4, 2x6) pushed India Red close to India Green’s first-innings total on the second day of their Duleep Trophy final at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Thursday.
Abhimanyu displayed a wide array of shots, dispatching the ball to all parts of the ground. The Bengal opener, who has struggled since making an exceptional 233 against Sri Lanka-A in May, came good in great style.
Comfortable
Abhimanyu was comfortable against the pacers and spinners alike. He was especially strong off the back-foot, punching the quicks through the cover and point regions. When the slow bowlers came on, the 23-year-old either danced down the track or went deep into the crease.
After reaching his 13th First Class century, Abhimanyu reached into his pocket and took out a ‘Rakhi’ thread. “That was dedicated to my sister, Pallavi,” Easwaran said.
Abhimanyu explained that he once suffered from throwing away good starts, until he sought help. “I had a chat with (India-A coach) Rahul Dravid sir and my coach Apurva Desai. We decided that I needed to focus on the present.
“Earlier, if I was on 60, I would try to dominate and get out.
“It is important to stay focused on the present and the match situation,” he said.
Failing to convert starts
His teammates Priyank Panchal (33, 78b) and Karun Nair (20, 24b), however, failed to convert their good starts. Panchal paid the price for playing away from his body, edging one from Ankit Rajpoot.
Karun — who has scores of 99, 166 n.o. and 90 in his last three innings — committed himself too early to pull leg-spinner Mayank Markande and lost his stumps.
Earlier, fighting knocks from Markande (76 n.o.), Tanveer Ul-Haq (18) and Rajpoot (30) rescued India Green. Resuming on 147 for eight, India Green was in serious danger of being bowled out cheaply, but the trio took the total to 231.
Markande and Tanveer added 60 for the ninth wicket before Tanveer was cleaned up by a perfect inswinging yorker from Sandeep Warrier. Rajpoot used the long handle to great effect, while Markande fluently reached his highest First Class score.
The scores:
India Green — 1st innings: Faiz Fazal lbw b Unadkat 12, Akshath Reddy run out 16, Dhruv Shorey c Kishan b Warrier 23, Siddhesh Lad c Panchal b Unadkat 0, Akshdeep Nath c Panchal b Sarvate 29, Akshay Wadkar b Unadkat 6, Dharmendrasinh Jadeja c&b Avesh 15, Mayank Markande (not out) 76, Rajesh Mohanty c Kishan b Unadkat 0, Tanveer Ul-Haq b Warrier 18, Ankit Rajpoot c Sarvate b Avesh 39; Extras (nb-1, b-4, lb-1): 6; Total (in 72.1 overs): 231.
Fall of wickets: 1-19, 2-53, 3-54, 4-65, 5-92, 6-99, 7-107, 8-112, 9-172.
India Red bowling: Unadkat 24-2-83-4, Warrier 17-3-39-2, Avesh 16.1-1-56-2, Sarvate 11-1-30-1, Wakhare 4-0-18-0.
India Red — 2nd innings: Priyank Panchal c Wadkar b Rajpoot 33, Abhimanyu Easwaran (batting) 102, Karun Nair b Markande 20, Ankit Kalsi (batting) 11; Extras (nb-7, w-2): 9; Total (for two wkts. in 52 overs): 175.
Fall of wickets: 1-87, 2-126.
India Red bowling: Tanveer 12-2-35-0, Rajpoot 12-1-38-1, Mohanty 9-0-43-0, Jadeja 9-0-35-0, Markande 10-1-24-1 .
