Internet Desk: Chasing 497, India Green were trailing by 280 runs with three wickets in hand at the end of third day’s play in the Duleep Trophy match being played under lights with the pink ball. At stumps skipper Suresh Raina was batting on 42 with Ashoke Dinda on 10 with the score 221/7.
Propelled by Abhinav Mukund’s 169 followed by Sudip Chatterjee’s century and Gurkeerat Mann’s 82 India Red seized the advantage in the ongoing first-class game. Kuldeep Yadav then claimed five for 55 wickets to put India Red in a commanding position.
Facing a mammoth task, Robin Uthappa and Jalaj Saxena began India Green’s reply. The pair kept the scoreboard ticking steadily until Saxena was dismissed just before dinner by Ishwar Pandey. Robin Uthappa and Parthiv Patel then took the team to dinner at 72 for one.
The last session belonged to the young India Red spinner – Kuldeep Yadav. Soon after Uthappa had survived sneaking in a risky single, the spinner forced an edge to the slips and Yuvraj Singh took a low catch to send back the opener. A ball later, the youngster trapped Rajat Paliwal lbw. Couple of overs later he claimed another vital wicket, that of Parthiv Patel to leave India Green tottering on 131 for four.
Raina then looked to stabilise the innings with Saurabh Tiwary and the pair had added 54 for the fifth wicket until Yadav struck again. Brought back into the attack the spinner repaid his captain’s faith by claiming Tiwary leg-before wicket to end the blossoming stand.
With half the side back in the dressing room, Shreyas Gopal who then came out to middle was sent back by Anureet Singh. The pacer forced a nick straight to wicketkeeper to leave India Green on 198 for six. In the next over Yadav dismantled Sandeep Sharma’s woodwork to complete his fifer.
Raina then saw the team through to the end of day’s play with Dinda. Earlier, India Red added 142 runs to their overnight score for the loss of seven wickets after resuming their innings on the third afternoon. Ashoke Dinda set the ball rolling with the wicket of Mukund who had put up a formidable display in the game. The ball took the edge off the bat and flew towards gully where Tiwary snapped the catch.
Although the opener added only seven runs to his overnight score, he had helped pile up a sizeable lead. Gurkeerat Singh Mann, at the other end continued to add to the total with some crisp strokes to the fence while India Green struck at regular intervals.
KB Arun Karthick was trapped lbw by Gopal to leave the team on 404 for five. He then had Mann stumped for 82; the batsman stepped out to a tossed up delivery from the leg-spinner and found his bails dislodged. In his next over, the bowler accounted for Akshay Wakhare to leave India Red on 431 for seven.
Pragyan Ojha then followed up with a double blow. He claimed Yadav and Pandey to leave the team on 480 for nine. And six runs later, Gopal picked his fifth wicket, that of Nathu Singh to wrap up the India Red innings for 486 with a lead of 496 runs in the second session of the day.
Brief scores: Day 1 – India Red 1st inn 161/10 in 48.2 overs (A Mukund 77, S Sharma 4/62, P Ojha 3/19);India Green 1st inn 116/7 in 35 overs (S Raina 35, K Yadav 3/26, N Singh 3/32)
Day 2 – India Green 1st inn 151/10 in 45.4 overs (S Tiwary 50, N Singh 6/53); India Red 2nd inn 344/3 in 78 overs (A Mukund 162*, S Chatterjee 114, G Mann 28*, A Rajpoot 1/63)
Day 3 – India Red 2nd inn 486/10 in 116.5 overs (A Mukund 169, G Mann 82, S Gopal 5/123)India Green 2nd inn 221/7 in 46 overs (R Uthappa 72, S Raina 42*, K Yadav 5/55)