The players are off as bad light stops play and that would be Stumps. India Red 175/2, trails by 56 runs.
Abhimanyu Easwaran hits a brilliant century to put India Red in a position of strength. Red trails by 58 runs only.
Play resumes and Abhimanyu Easwaran moves into the 80s.
Rain stops play.
TEA: India Red 139/2 with A. Easwaran leading the charge with the bat. He's unbeaten on 79 and has A. Kalsi for company.
GONE! Markande cleans up the in-form Karun Nair as India Red loses its second wicket.
India Red 96/1 | 27 overs
Right-arm fast bowler Ankit Rajpoot breaks the opening partnership. Skipper Panchal 33 (78 balls; 4s 5) is caught behind; Akshay Wadkar doesn't miss many.
In-form Karun Nair is out in the middle. The right-hander has been in splendid touch in Duleep Trophy — 166* and 99 in the first fixture, followed by a 90 in the second game.
India Red 58/0 | 17 Overs
Easwaran and Panchal are motoring along at nearly three runs an over. Tanveer Haq, Ankit Rajpoot and Rajesh Mohanty have rolled their arms thus far. Panchal brought up the team fifty with a streaky boundary to third-man.
===============================
Lunch has been taken on Day 2 of the Duleep Trophy final in Bengaluru. India Red is 16/0 with Easwaran and Panchal batting on 11 and 5 respectively.
India Red 11/0 | 5 Overs
Priyank Panchal and Abhimanyu Easwaran are off to a watchful start in their first innings. Panchal got a reprieve after Ankit Rajpoot grassed a tough chance off his own bowling.
India Green 231 all-out| 72.1 Overs
India Green folds for 231; Markande putting on crucial stands of 60 and 59 with Tanveer and Ankit Rajpoot respectively. The young leggie remained unbeaten on 76 off 121 balls. For India Red, Jaydev Unadkat topped the wickets tally with four scalps followed by Sandeep Warrier and Avesh Khan who bagged two apiece.
India Green 192/9 | 62 Overs
Mayank Markande continues to impress with the bat, reaching his half-century with a boundary off Unadkat. Meanwhile India Red has snapped up T.M. Haq to leave India Green nine down. Ankit Rajpoot is flexing his muscles, having raced to 14 with the help of two hits to the fence. India Green is nearing 200.
India Green 157/8 | 54 Overs
Mayank Markande and T.M. Haq have added 45 valuable runs to the team's total, with Markande showing good temperament for his 39 off 64 balls. Unadkat, who already has fur wickets under his belt, is eyeing a maiden five-for in Duleep Trophy under conditions that are tailor made for the seamers. Avesh Khan has shared the bowling duties with Unadkat thus far. As we speak, the clouds seem to be closing in on Chinnaswamy!
Here's how India Red made merry one day one amid repeated rain interruptions.
India Green opted to bat first in overcast conditions and paid the price as India Red pacers dictated play on Day 1 of the Duleep Trophy Final at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Wednesday. India Green was stuttering at 147/8 at stumps, with wickets falling at regular intervals even as rain intervened at a similar frequency.
Jaydev Unadkat was the pick of the bowlers and finished the day with four for 58. Of the 49 overs of play possible, pacers bowled 43 of them. Aditya Sarvate was the only spinner deployed to give pacers the rotational breaks.
Unadkat, who kept teasing the batsmen with a nagging length right from the first ball of the innings, was first rewarded at the half-hour mark with an lbw of India Green captain Faiz Fazal, who fell for 12 runs. The first-wicket partnership lasted 19 runs.
The second-wicket partnership lasted a little longer -- 34 runs -- before Warrier induced an edge from Dhruv Shorey to wicketkeeper Ishan Kishan. Shorey, who was the only batsman who looked at ease against the pacers, departed for 23. It turned out to be the second longest partnership for India Green as Sandeep Warrier and Avesh Khan complemented Unadkat’s tight bowling and kept the opposition batsmen on a leash. The unbroken ninth-wicket partnership of 35 between Mayank Markande and Tanveer ul-Haq, in fact, was the highest for India Green.
Siddhesh Lad fell for a first-ball duck to Unadkat, offering a catch at short cover to India Red skipper Priyank Panchal. Akshath Reddy was forced to walk back after the non-striker Akshdeep Nath failed to heed to his call for a single. Avesh Khan had no trouble sending the ball to ‘keeper Ishan who casually flicked the bails off.
Bengaluru weather, too, was at its temperamental best. Moving clouds meant it drizzled for a minute, rained for half a minute followed by periods of grey overcast skies that allowed play. It often felt like the groundsmen had the longest stay in the middle of the field. There were two rain interruptions before lunch and an extended break before the start of the second session -- the groundsmen had to cover the pitch and the inner circle at least a half a dozen times throughout the day.
When the play finally resumed around 1.45pm, Jaydev Unadkat and Avesh Khan were back in full steam. Leg-spinner Sarwate, however, was the first to pick a wicket post lunch. Trying to loft over long on, Akshdeep Nath offered a simple catch to captain Priyank Panchal at mid-wicket. The lower order walked back in quick succession, but Mayank Markande, walking in at No. 8, held fort with No. 10 Tanveer ul-Haq till Tea.
The Tea break was again an extended session, thanks to the unpredictable weather fluctuations and more play seemed unlikely. Between 4.15pm and 4:30pm, dark clouds gave way to bright sunshine and 21 overs was ambitiously decided to be played until 6pm. But then, by 5pm, the skies darkened again. Play was officially called off at 5.21 pm. Mayank was the highest scorer for India Green with an unbeaten 32 and will continue his rearguard duty with Tanveer on Thursday. The play will resume at 9.30 but will continue till 5 pm if the weather stays clear.
Comments
SHARE