Duleep Trophy | Draw sees India Blue through to the final
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Barring a miracle, India Blue were already through to the final riding on the massive lead in the 1st innings. That miracle did not arrive for India Green as Blue undertook some fine batting practice to see out the last day of the virtual knock-out to set up a clash with India Red over the weekend.
Brief Scores: India Blue 707 all out and 298 all out in 66.2 overs (Jackson 79*(77), Gambhir 59(90); Gopal 4/53) drew against India Green 237 all out and 179/4 in 34 overs (Vijay 73(96), Uthappa 66(61); Sharma 2/68)
Saxena leads India Green's fightback
Resuming their innings from their overnight score of 85/0, Gautam Gambhir and Mayank Agarwal brought up the century partnership and completed their respective half-centuries to put India Blue in cruise control. However, Jalaj Saxena, who conceded 115 runs in the first innings, dismissed both the openers in quick succession to stem the flow of runs. Both Gambhir and Agarwal chopped the ball onto the stumps while attempting to cut deliveries which were not short enough for the shot. Siddesh Lad also departed in the 38th over, and all of a sudden, India Blue found themselves at 126/3 after losing three wickets for just eight runs.
Dinesh Karthik and Sheldon Jackson played a couple of crucial innings in the middle order and stabilized the innings. However, Shreyas Gopal, who picked up 5 wickets in the first innings, and Pragyan Ojha ran through the lower middle order and tailenders to bowl out India Blue for 298. The innings ended on a terrible note, though. Pragyan Ojha was rushed to a hospital after being hit on his head by the ball while fielding at mid-on. The BCCI has later confirmed that the spinner is stable now and out of any danger.
Vijay and Uthappa make their mark
After his success with the ball, Jalaj failed to deliver with the bat as he was dismissed by Pankaj Singh with just 17 runs on the board. With their team in trouble, Murali Vijay and Robin Uthappa stepped up to the plate and formed an 116-run partnership for the second wicket in just over 22 overs. Uthappa scored well over run-a-ball, and his innings of 66 runs consisted of 12 boundaries and a six. Vijay was more circumspect, but he too scored at a fairly brisk rate.
However, just like their opponents, India Green lost wickets in quick succession as Karn Sharma began to extract a lot of turn off the pitch. The spinner dismissed both Vijay and Uthappa, and suddenly from 133/1, India Green were down to 168/4. However, there was not enough time left on the day for India Blue to force a result, although they did not actually need to, having already booked their place in the final, where they will face India Red.
