India Red managed to take a 23-run first innings lead, despite an aggressive rearguard action by Jaydev Unadkat and Dhawal Kulkarni, in the second Duleep Trophy match against India Blue here at the NPR College ground on Saturday.
Led by skipper Abhinav Mukund’s half-century (50, 74b, 9x4) and Siddhesh Lad’s unbeaten 47, India Red ended day three on 156 for three in its second innings, with a lead of 179.
If the match ends in a draw on Sunday, India Red will qualify for the final (it took a similar slim lead against India Green in the opening encounter) leaving the next match between Blue and Green a virtual semifinal.
Two quick wickets
Resuming at 183 for five, India Blue quickly lost two wickets to Parveez Rasool — Saurabh Kumar bowled and then Dhruv Shorey, three short of his century, giving a simple return catch.
Unadkat and Kulkarni went on the aggressive finding some boundaries, even hitting a couple of sixes. The duo added 61 for the eighth wicket off just 104 balls.
Then Abhimanyu Mithun picked up two wickets in the same over dismissing Unadkat (39) and Akshay Wakhare before Kulkarni and Ayyappa put on 33 for the last wicket.
Kulkarni was eventually dismissed trying to heave one over mid-wicket only to find the fielder.
Starting with spin
In the second innings, Blue chose to start with off-spinner Wakhare and left-arm spinner Kumar, who quickly dismissed opener Sanjay Ramaswamy leg-before. B. Aparajit fell to a diving catch by skipper Faiz Fazal off Wakhare.
On a pitch where there was help for the spinners with a large rough patch at both ends, Abhinav played a crafty knock. The TN batsman used the sweep, in particular to good effect for a flurry of boundaries.
The left-handed opener got on top of the spinners and reached his half-century before he was trapped leg-before by part-time spinner Ricky Bhui at the stroke of the second break.
Later, the top scorer from the first innings, Siddhesh Lad picked up from where he left off and ensured no further wickets fell, stitching an unbeaten 75-run partnership with Akshay Wadkar.
The scores:India Red — 1st innings: 316
India Blue — 1st innings: Abhishek Raman lbw b Gurbani 12, Faiz Fazal b Rasool 1, Dhruv Shorey c&b Rasool 97, Anmolpreet Singh c Abhinav b Gurbani 1, Ricky Bhui c sub b Aparajith 41, K.S. Bharat b Rasool 35, Saurabh Kumar b Rasool 4, Jaydev Undakat lbw b Mithun 39, Dhawal Kulkarni c Rasool b Aparajith 39, Akshay Wakhare c Aparajith b Mithun 0, B. Ayyappa (not out) 11; Extras (lb-5, b-6, nb-1, w-1): 13; Total (in 95.3 overs): 293.
Fall of wickets: 1-15, 2-17, 3-18, 4-130, 5-181, 6-193, 7-199, 8-260, 9-260.
India Red bowling: Rasool 36-3-107-4, Gurbani 14-4-29-2, Mithun 11-3-35-2, Nadeem 25-4-67-0, Porel 3-1-12-0, Aparajith 6.3-0-32-2.
India Red — 2nd innings: Sanjay Ramaswamy lbw b Kumar 6, Abhinav Mukund lbw b Bhui 50, B. Aparajith c Fazal b Wakhare 19, Siddhesh Lad (batting) 47, Akshay Wadkar (batting) 30; Extras (b-2, lb-1, nb-1): 4; Total (for three wkts. in 59 overs): 156.
Fall of wickets: 1-21, 2-66, 3-81.
India Blue bowling: Unadkat 3-0-11-0, Wakhare 22-3-59-1, Kumar 21-4-52-1, Bhui 3-0-9-1, Kulkarni 5-0-16-0, Ayyappa 3-1-3-0, Anmolpreet 2-0-3-0 .
