Duleep Trophy | Ankit Rajput dents India Red's progress on Day 1
The Indian domestic cricket season 2018-19 kicked off on Friday with the Duleep Trophy game between India Red and India Green at Dindigul in Tamil Nadu. On the opening day of the game, Abhinav Mukund-led India Red managed to score 230/6 as Ankit Rajput picked up three wickets at the stumps.
Brief scores (Day 1, Stumps): India Red - 230/6 in 90 overs (Ashutosh Singh 57*; Ankit Rajput 3/38) vs India Green
The day started with sensible batting display by skipper Mukund and Sanjay Ramaswamy as they went on to add 69 runs for the opening wicket before Ankit Rajpoot came in to dismiss both the openers in the 19th and 23rd overs respectively. However, it was not much of a damage then as the Reds went into tea in the Day-Night game with the scorecard reading 93/2 in 28 overs.
However, the team lost two more wickets in the second session as middle-order batsmen Baba Aparajith and Writtick Chatterjee failed to convert their starts into something substantial and at one stage they were reeling at 137/4 when Chatterjee was trapped in front by Jalaj Saxena for 22.
Top-scorer of the day, Ashutosh Singh, and wicketkeeper Akshay Wadkar then showed some resistance by staying at the crease for more than 37 overs and adding 61 runs. Rain halted play for sometime after the 64th over when the score was 176/4. When the game resumed, part-time spinner Prashant Chopra provided the crucial breakthrough for the Greens by breaking the fifth wicket stand as he cleaned up Wadkar with 13 overs to go in the day’s play.
Ankit Rajpoot then picked up his third wicket of the game by sending Shahbaz Nadeem back into the hut in the 85th over. At the stumps, Ashutosh remained unbeaten along with Rajneesh Gurbani at the crease and the duo will look forward to