Good afternoon, welcome to Sportstar 's live blog of the Duleep Trophy final between defending champion India Red and India Blue.
8:45pm: STUMPS! Anmolpreet and Ricky's 144-run partnership for the fifth wicket put India Blue in command as it ended the day at 260/5.
8:40pm:
8:25pm: And he's OUT! Anmolpreet Singh is dismissed for 96. The man who looked so in control seems to have a had a moment's lapse in concentration. He edges one from Prasidh Krishna and its an easy take for the keeper. India Blue 251/5
8:20pm: India Blue reach the 250-mark. Anmolpreet Singh and Ricky Bhui are still at crease. Anmolpreet has raced to 96* and Bhui, who's played the slower of the two is on 46*.
7:48pm: Anmolpreet Singh and Ricky Bhui have crossed the 100-run mark in their partnership that has steadied the innings for India Blue.
7:40pm: Quite an eventful drinks break.
7:20pm: The bowlers don't seem very comfortable with the ball. Doesn't seem to be helping much in their attempts to break the partnership.
7:00pm: Anmolpreet Singh scores a half-century. With an 87-run partnership with Ricky Bhui, Anmolpreet has anchored the innings for India Blue. The score's 194/4
6:23pm: Ricky Bhui and Anmolpreet Singh have dug in deep to pull India Blue out of trouble to finish the second session at 159/4 in 62 overs. The duo added 52 runs in 122 balls to see off the second session on Day One of the Duleep Trophy final.
The batsmen made no mistake in putting the bad deliveries away, looked comfortable in sweeping and guiding the spinners and negotiating the quicks. With the ball 62 overs old, assistance was fading away but Mihir Hirwani and Parvez Rasool tried every trick in the bag to fox the batsmen.
While Rasool was faster through the air, Hirwani was a bit slower but the batsmen had no trouble whatsoever. There were a couple of half chances but Abhinav Mukund's men would hope to have an improved session with the ball in final session, with the old and the new balls (if they opt for it) and hope to finish the day on a high.
5.20pm: At the end of 50 overs, India Blue has scored 127 runs for the loss of four wickets. Mihir Hirwani and Parvez Rasool have made the batsmen work hard for their runs. Ricky Bhui and Anmolpreet Singh have been reading the bowlers well, played the balls on merit, looked comfortable on both back foot and front foot. They would love to see this session off without any hiccups.
5.02pm: Ricky Bhui and Anmolpreet Singh have a humongous task on their hands. The ball isn't doing much and neither is the wicket. They need to be patient, wait for the bad balls and build a partnership.
4.48pm: Another wicket falls! India Blue is looking to throw away a good start. After Shorey, Deepak Hooda attempts a sweep and finds Siddesh Lad at square leg. India Blues now wobbling at 107/4.
4.31pm: India Blue loses its third wicket. Prasidh Krishna bowls a short one, and Dhruv Shorey (18 of 70) is dismissed, caught at square leg by Bavanaka Sandeep. Shorey must be cursing his luck. He was well set, he had his eye in and was looking solid. He played 70 balls for his 23 and had all the chances to build a long innings.
4.17pm: After 63 balls, Deepak Hooda has scored his first boundary.
4pm: We are back in action with the second session.
Session One: Winning the toss and batting first, India Blue finished the first session on 79/2 with Dhruv Shorey (10 runs, 50 balls) and Deepak Hooda (7 runs, 51 balls) in the middle. Openers Faiz Fazal and Smit Patel negotiated the fast bowlers with ease and stormed to 50/0 when the spinners were introduced. While the first hour belonged to the batsmen, the spinners hogged the limelight in the second hour. Rasool accounted for Smit Patel while Mihir Hirwani sent Faiz Fazal with a beauty that beat him all ends up. The duo negotiated the spinners well and took their time to get their eye in. With strike rates hovering around the 20 mark, Shorey and Hooda showed classic intent to stay put and make sure India Blue didn't have to suffer any more losses in the first session of play.
3.34pm: The first session has come to end after 32 overs, with India Blue at 79/2. Tea break.
3.25pm: After 30 overs, India Blue is 77/2. Dhruv Shorey 8 (42) and Deepak Hooda 7 (47) are at the crease.
3.15pm: Parvez Rasool and Mihir Hirwani have been very miserly here. With economy rates of 1.67 and 2.09 respectively, the spinners are making use of what little assistance they get from the ball and wicket by bowling tight lines and foxing the batsmen.
3.07pm: India Blue is 71/2 after 25 overs, with Dhruv Shorey 6 (32) and Deepak Hooda 7 (27).
3pm: Two selectors, Gagan Khoda and Jatin Paranjpe, are at the ground.
2.55pm: Baba Aparajith is carrying a niggle (an ankle injury presumably) and isn't playing for India Red in this match.
2.45pm: The spinners are coming into play now. First Parvez Rasool traps Smit Patel and now Mihir Hirwani, the legspinner, breaches Faiz Fazal's defence. India Blue now shaken with 2 quick wickets. 56/2.
2.34pm: Parveez Rasool strikes in his third over. He traps Smit Patel in front for 22 and the opening partnership is exactly broken at the 50-run mark. A perfect off-spinner's delivery. It pitches outside off and turns in and thuds on to the pads of the batsman.
Smit Patel 22 (47 balls, 4x4). India Blue is 50/1 in 13.5 overs, as the umpires call for drinks.
2.32pm: Our Correspondent from Natham, Hari Kishore M, says: "The India Blue batsmen are having it easy. Neither the pitch nor the pink ball doing any wonders for the bowlers. The bowlers have to be spot on with their lengths and hope for the batsmen to make a mistake."
2.22pm: 10 overs have bowled and India Blue have scored at 4 runs an over to move to 40/0. The pink ball isn't doing much and the run rate gives us a fair idea of the same. The quicks — Prasidh Krishna and Ishan Porel — haven't been able to make any breakthrough.
Mukund introduced the spinner, Parvez Rasool, in the 10th over. The spinner comes into play, just almost immediately. Rasool gets Faiz Fazal to try and sweep him, the ball seemed to have kissed the glove and lobbed. Wicketkeeper Ishan Kishan tried to go for the diving catch, on the pitch, just infront of the batsman, misses it and appeals for obstruction. The umpires have a chat and so does Abhinav Mukund. The umpires overrule the appeal. That was the only piece of action that sent the temperatures soaring. Six boundaries have been scored in the first 10 overs.
Smit Patel is on 16 and Faiz Fazal is on 24.
2.14pm: It's only the 10th over but Abhinav Mukund has already introduced spin here.
1.56pm: Our Correspondent from Natham, Hari Kishore M, says: "Looks like the pink ball isn't doing much. No hint of swing or any movement off the pitch. The India Blue batsmen are rather negotiating these initial overs little easily."
1.51pm: An uneventful first five overs. India Blue have scored 15 for no loss. Prasidh Krishna and Ishan Porel operating for India Red from either ends.
1.30pm: Faiz Fazal, on strike, and Smit Patel are at the crease. Prasidh Krishna will open the attack.
1.25pm: C. Shamshudeen and Nitin Menon are the Umpires, and Yeshwant Barde is the Third Umpire.
1.23pm: Right, here are the playing XIs.
India Blue : Faiz Fazal (c), Smit Patel (w), Dhruv Shorey, Anmolpreet Singh, Saurabh Kumar, Ricky Bhui, Deepak Hooda, Nikhil Gangta, Swapnil Singh, Jaydev Unadkat, Dhawal Kulkarni.
India Red : Abhinav Mukund (c), Ishan Kishan(w), Sanjay Ramaswamy, Writtick Chatterjee, Siddhesh Lad, Bavanaka Sandeep, Parvez Rasool, Mihir Hirwani, Ishan Porel, Ashutosh Singh, Prasidh Krishna.
The 12th man for India Blue is Abhishek Raman and for India Red it is Akshay Wadkar.
1.15pm: We will have team news shortly.
1.04pm: Toss update: Faiz Fazal, the India Blue captain, has won the toss and elected to bat first.
The first ball will be bowled at 1.30 PM.
Led by Abhinav Mukund and Faiz Fazal respectively, India Red and India Blue will tussle for the Duleep Trophy, with the final being played at NPR College Ground, Dindigul from September 4 to 8.
The preview of the match can be read here .
Also read: India's pink ball blues
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