Duleep Trophy: Vignesh scythes through India Blue

The India Green speedster takes five for 50 to facilitate a sharp batting collapse.

K. Vignesh celebrates a wicket on a fruitful day for him at the NPR College ground, Natham, on Thursday.

India Green speedster K. Vignesh added to the discomfort of India Blue on a hot morning here by delivering a fiery spell on Day Two of their Duleep Trophy clash at the NPR College grounds here on Thursday. Thanks to his spell of five for 50, India Blue lost seven wickets for 77 to be bowled out for 340.

In reply, Green was positioned at 151 for four at stumps.

Vignesh was relentless in his search for wickets, and was rewarded quite early in the day when Ricky Bhui nicked a tricky delivery to Parthiv Patel behind the stumps. That sparked Blue’s downfall; the team lost all its wickets in the first session.

Chopra-Indrajith alliance

Green’s batting also faltered early on. India pacer Jaydev Unadkat picked two wickets with only nine runs on the board. But it found a good pair in opener Prashanth Chopra (80, 194b, 10x4) and B. Indrajith (35, 86b, 2x4) who played straight and safe to put on 89 runs for the third wicket. But just when the going looked good, left-arm spinner Saurabh Kumar cut short Indrajith’s journey with a real turner.

Chopra hung on for some time before falling to the same spinner. But skipper Parthiv and Gurkeerat Mann guided the team to 151 for four at stumps.

'Cherry on the cake' Vignesh, the paceman from Tamil Nadu, has made the best use of the opportunity given to him in the Duleep Trophy this season. The India Green strike bowler came up with a three-wicket haul in the opener against India Red and announced himself in an even sharper fashion with a vital five-for against India Blue here on Thursday. The national selectors present here must have had a close look at the 23-year-old’s ability to swing the tide in his team’s favour. Even as the opposition batsmen kept plundering runs on Wednesday, Vignesh kept working hard and it paid off towards the end. His figures of three for 8 in 3.1 overs explain well the ferocity of his final spell. “The first day they hit us all over the park. The game was in bits and pieces but I believed in myself. I kept bowling consistent line and length and challenged the batsmen as well, and it clicked. This five-for is like a cherry on the cake to keep going ahead,” said Vignesh.

• India Blue – Ist innings: Faiz Fazal c Chopra b Vignesh 76, Smit K. Patel lbw Sarvate 51, Dhruv Shorey c Indrajith b Sheth 93, Ganesh Satish c Bhatia b Mishra 14, Ricky Bhui c Parthiv Patel b Vignesh 56; Nikhil Gangta b Mishra 8, Swapnil Singh c Panchal b Vignesh 7, Saurabh Kumar b Vignesh 9, Jaydev Unadkat lbw Mishra 6, Basil Thampi c Sarvate b Vignesh 5, Akshay Wakhare (not out) 9; Extras (b-4, lb-1, nb-1): 6; Total (in 119.1 overs): 340.
• Fall of wickets: 1-127, 2-127, 3-161, 4-268, 5-303, 6-303, 7-318, 8-325, 9-326.
• India Green bowling: Vignesh 25.1-5-50-5, Sheth 23-3-63-1, Mishra 32-7-93-3, Sarvate 20-3-58-1, Mann 13-0-53-0, Chopra 5-0-17-0, Priyank Panchal 1-0-1-0.
• India Green - Ist innings: Prashant Chopra c Unadkat b Kumar 80, Priyank Panchal c & b Unadkat 0, Sudip Chatterjee c Kumar b Unadkat 0, B. Indrajith st. Smit Patel b Kumar 35, Parthiv Patel (batting), Gurkeerat Mann (batting); Extras (b-2): 2; Total (for four wickets in 60 overs) 151.
• Fall of wickets: 1-3, 2-9, 3-98, 4-136
• India Blue bowling: Unadkat 10-3-15-2, Thampi 7-1-13-0, Wakhare 11-1-40-0, Singh 13-1-34-0, Kumar 16-5-34-2, Bhui 3-0-13-0.