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[caption id="attachment_21437" align="alignnone" width="580"] Gautam Gambhir and Mayank Agarwal lead the way for India Blue. Twitter[/caption] Internet Desk: Mayank Agarwal (161) propelled India Blue to 336 runs for the loss of three on Day 1 against India Green in the last game of the league phase of the ongoing Duleep Trophy in Greater Noida. After a 212-run opening stand with Gautam Gambhir (90), the opener was involved in a 103-run stand with Cheteshwar Pujara before returning to the dressing room in the final session of the day. Building on the platform set by the openers, Cheteshwar Pujara (63*) and Abhimanyu Mithun (4*) took the team to stumps. After a rain truncated first game, India Blue opted to bat in the all important encounter against India Green for a place in the final. After a 151-run opening stand in the previous game against India Red, the India Blue openers once again got their team off to a solid start. After being adjudged lbw off a Jasprit Bumrah no-ball, Agarwal flourished in the company of Gambhir and went on to post his second first-class century. The opener, who had earlier mentioned that the skipper’s inputs had helped build his 92-run knock in their first game, once again milked the bowlers. A clean hitter of the ball, the batsman from Karnataka collected most of his runs on the off-side en-route to his century. While the young stroke-maker scored at a quicker pace, Gambhir held up the other end even as he dismissed the bowlers to the fence at regular intervals. Agarwal was the first to reach the fifty-run mark with a single through covers off his Karnataka team-mate Shreyas Gopal in the first-session of the game. Playing steadily, the openers took the India Blue to Tea at 117. Continuing to play with ease off both spinners and pacers, the pair collected runs off the India Green attack. They effortlessly found gaps for singles and twos to add to the tally. Early into the second session, Gambhir brought up his half-century with a boundary off Jalaj Saxena through the cover region. Agarwal, who was poised on 70 at the end of the first session, creamed Pragyan Ojha over long-off in his 80s as he inched towards his ton. A while later he pulled Shreyas over midwicket to bring up a much deserved century. The partnership continued to flourish into the second session until Gambhir was run out on 90. Looking to sneak in a second run, the captain was run out at the strikers’ end. With Cheteshwar Pujara, Agarwal then took the team to Dinner at 222 for one. The spinners continued to bowl their heart out until the second new ball was taken in the final session of the day, but without returns. Pujara and Agarwal were content to play a patient game while dismissing the loose delivery to the fence. The No 3 bat stepped out to slam Ojha over the ropes and smacked Shreyas through midwicket. Pacer Ankit Rajpoot too chipped in with a couple of overs as the India Green attack toiled to end the blossoming stand before the spinners again worked in tandem. Making most of the batting friendly conditions, the batsmen continued to dominate the proceedings. Pujara was the third batsmen to reach his fifty as India Blue continued to flourish under the lights. In the latter half of the third session, after slamming the new ball wielding Ashoke Dinda for back-to-back fours in the leg region, Agarwal departed handing a catch to Rajpoot in the square-leg region. Siddhesh Lad pulled Bumrah and followed him back to the dressing room. With two quick wickets gone in the fag end of the day, Abhimanyu Mithun joined Pujara to see the team through to the end of day’s play. Brief scores: Day 1 - India Blue 1st inn 336/3 in 90 overs (M Agarwal 161, G Gambhir 90, C Pujara 63*, A Dinda 1/54, J Bumrah 1/61).