It was quite hot during the first hour and seamer K. Vignesh (five for 50) made it hotter with a fiery spell that shattered India Blue hopes of posting a big total on day two of their Duleep Trophy clash at the NPR College grounds here on Thursday.
The Tamil Nadu speedster, relentless in his search for wickets, was rewarded quite early when Ricky Bhui nicked to Parthiv Patel behind the stumps. That dismissal sparked Blue’s collapse.
From a healthy 263 for three overnight, the team crumbled to 340 in the first session. For the kind of platform the top-order had laid, the Blue side would have expected to score more runs than it eventually did.
In reply, India Green was in early trouble as pacer Jaydev Unadkat reduced the team to nine for two. However, opener Prashant Chopra (80, 194b, 10x4) and B. Indrajith (35, 86b, 2x4) steadied the ship with an 89-run stand for the third wicket. Just when the two looked well settled, left-arm spinner Saurabh Kumar cut short Indrajith’s journey.
Prashant hung on longer before falling to Saurabh. But skipper Parthiv and Gurkeerat Mann guided the team to 151 for four at stumps.
The scores:
India Blue — 1st innings: Faiz Fazal c Chopra b Vignesh 76, Smit Patel lbw b Sarvate 51, Dhruv Shorey c Indrajith b Sheth 93, Ganesh Satish c Bhatia b Mishra 14, Ricky Bhui c Parthiv b Vignesh 56, Nikhil Gangta b Mishra 8, Swapnil Singh c Panchal b Vignesh 7, Saurabh Kumar b Vignesh 9, Jaydev Unadkat lbw b 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, Prashanth 5-0-17-0, Priyank 1-0-1-0.
India Green — 1st innings: Prashant Chopra c Unadkat b Saurabh 80, Priyank Panchal c & b Unadkat 0, Sudip Chatterjee c Saurabh b Unadkat 0, B. Indrajith st. Smit b Saurabh 35, Parthiv Patel (batting) 29, Gurkeerat Mann (batting) 5; Extras (b-2): 2; Total (for four wkts. 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, Swapnil 13-1-34-0, Saurabh 16-5-34-2, Bhui 3-0-13-0.