17.20 - India Blue 112/6 in 49 overs: Play has been called off for the day. Ankeet Bawane is batting on 14 off 74 balls. Giving him company is Saurabh Kumar; Saurabh is batting on 2, off 11 deliveries. That's it for the day. Tune in tomorrow for Day Two of the contest. Till then, goodbye.
16:05 - India Blue 112/6 in 49 overs: Bad light has stopped play. An hour and a half of scheduled play is still left. Jalaj Saxena was the sixth batsman to depart; he was caught behind off Ishan Porel.
15:18 - India Blue 96/5 in 44 overs: It's tea, at the Just Cricket Academy Ground in Bengaluru. Jalaj Saxena is batting on nine, and Ankeet Bawane on 19. Ricky Bhui's is the fifth wicket to fall.
14:31 - India Blue 76/4 in 31 overs: India Blue crawling. Only one run has come in the last six overs. Tanveer and Porel keeping it very tight. Porel had dismissed Anmolpreet Singh in the 28th over.
August 17 | 13:46
India Blue: 72/3 in 24 oversSudarshan from the venue adds, 'Scoring rate is pretty low. Both Shubman and Rituraj out shouldering arms. Tanveer u-Haq has been the pick of the bowlers.' Gaikwad falls for 30 off 63 balls. Anmolpreet Singh is the new batsman.
August 17 | 13:03
India Blue: 56/2 in 18 oversBowling change brings a big reward for Faiz Fazal in the second session. Ishan Porel snarls the wicket of Shubman Gill , who departs for just 6. He is caught behind by 'keeper by Akshay Wadkar. Ankit Bawne is the new man in. Gaikwad batting on 30.
August 17 | 12:05
India Blue: 30/1 in 10 oversLeft-arm seamer Tanveer gets the first wicket of the day, trapping Snell leg before wicket for just 5. Skipper Shubman Gill is in at No. 3 to join Gaikwad, who is going along well on 15. The teams take lunch on Day 1.
India Blue: 17/0 in 5 overs
Openers Ruturaj Gaikwad and Snell Patel have got India Blue off to a steady start here at the Just Cricket Academy Ground. UP's Ankit Rajpoot and Rajasthan's Tanveer-ul-Haq are sharing the new ball for India Green.
Play to begin at 11.15 am. India Green has won the toss and elected to field.
Rains in Chennai... rains in Bangalore, too. The toss has been delayed, folks. We will be back with further updates when the rain eases up. Our Bengaluru correspondent N. Sudarshan says the rain has relented and the next inspection is at 10.30 am.
Preview
The Duleep Trophy no longer boasts of a distinct identity, stripped as it was three years ago of its regional zone-wise format and replaced with a tournament which distributed the country’s best players into three different sides. Even the experiment with the pink ball to give players a taste of ‘day-night Tests’ has now been shelved.
But a performance in the event still carries a certain heft. As former Delhi cricketer and coach Bhaskar Pillai said on the eve of this year’s opener between his side India Blue and India Green at the Just Cricket Ground near here, “it is only one step away from a national call.”
READ| With no live coverage until final, Duleep Trophy back to red ball format
That the 2019-20 edition will be ushering in the domestic season gives it a different dimension. Season-openers can rarely be seen in isolation as big performances by players right at the start can potentially have far reaching consequences.
It is against this backdrop that the Shubman Gill-led India Blue will take on Faiz Fazal’s India Green in the first of three round-robin matches from Saturday. “We would love to win the tournament,” said Fazal, who has the experience of playing Duleep Trophy in the previous avatar too.
Duleep Trophy 2019-20 squads announced, Gill to lead defending champion India Blue
Tough for players
“It’s tough for players to come in a day prior and get together and play. There is the emotional aspect also... you do not win the competition for your State. But ultimately as professionals you need to adapt.”
“This is a prestigious tournament, important for players if they want to play higher. But you need to think of the team as well. As a batsmen if you just want to get a hundred, it may not work sometimes. Rather, if you think of the need to win the game for your side, it will definitely come. As a team we want to go in with that frame of mind,” added the 33-year-old.
INTERVIEW| Gill keen on staying in the moment
Format no hindrance
For 19-year-old Gill, very much a cricketer of this generation, the format was no hindrance and he said that the very name of the tournament should be enough motivation. “This is the format of the day,” he stated.
“I have played Deodhar [Trophy] etc.. So I know the red, blue and green format. I spoke to Jalaj Saxena, the senior-most person in our team, and his advice will be crucial. But it shouldn’t be difficult to get the team going. Duleep Trophy is a big tournament. So everyone is switched on.”
Funnily, on match eve, a prominent player found it hard to recognise a fellow teammate during the nets. He wasn’t even sure about Saturday's opponents. The hope is now for such instances to remain mere aberrations.
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