Duleep Trophy Final: Immovable Pujara frustrates India Red

India Blue got off to commanding start against India Green after Gautam Gambhir and Mayank Agarwal forged yet another century stand between them in the first session of day one. Skipper Gautam Gambhir spoke about dominating the opposition at the toss and did exactly the same as he along with Agarwal fended off the India Red bowlers to put on their fourth consecutive century stand and take their team to 114/0 on the scoreboard.

After winning the toss and electing to bat first, the day began on a painful note for the skipper as he endured a sharp hit to his hip from a rising Pradeep Sangwan delivery. However, Both Gambhir and Agarwal assessed the condition smartly and began adding runs at brisk pace. Both seem to have developed a great understanding which was visible in the way they smoothly kept rotating the strike.

There was not much of a lateral movement available for the pacers, however. The opening fast bowling duo of Nathu Singh and Sangwan had really put in extra effort while trying to get rid of the duo, which, unfortunately, didn’t happen for them.

After the pacers struggle, Yuvi quickly turned to the experienced Stuart Binny and Amit Mishra. However, the decision proved to be costly as Gambhir and Agarwal began freeing their arms and began gathering runs in boundaries. Yuvraj kept trying all sort of field adjustments but those were of no use.

Eventually, the Yuvi introduced another bowling change bringing in Kuldeep Yadav in the place of Binny. Right arm – left arm wrist spinning duo managed to keep the run rate under control and things look fine. But Gambhir and Agarwal knew perfectly how to counter them and went back to the pavilion with their wicket intact at tea.

The post-tea session brought some respite for the Indi Red side as they were finally able to get rid of the dangerous Gautam Gambhir and Mayank Agarwal.

Agarwal registered his 4th Duleep Trophy century shortly after resuming to bat. But, the moment of joy finally arrived for the India Red after breakthrough came off Stuart Binny bowling.

The military medium bowler took down his Karnataka teammate after Dhawan pouched a sharp low catch at the short extra cover in the 39th over.

Gambhir, despite losing his partner, went ahead with scoring runs at a quick pace and was nearing his ton. But, unfortunately, for the Delhite, a superb delivery from chinaman Kuldeep Yadav crashed through his gates and marked his end.

The India red bowler kept bowling tight. Spinner Amit Mishra and Yadav kept giving a bit of scare but Chateshwar Pujara and Rohit Sharma were unmoved.

Cheteshwar Pujara continued to frustrate India Red with his dominant batting show as India Blue piled on a massive 445/3 at tea on day two of the Duleep Trophy Final. The Saurashtra batting star looks unmovable at present.

Resuming on 362/3, India Blue lost Dinesh Kartik off the very first ball on day two. Pradeep Sangwan’s delivery which was slightly angling towards outside the off stump was dragged on to the stumps by Kartik lazy attempt to drive the ball to the covers.

However, there were no further casualties in the day as Sheldon Jackson stood firm with Pujara to play out the India Red bowler for the rest of the session. Yuvraj Singh opted to go with his fast bowling pair of Nathu Singh Sangwan to open the day.

Both extracted good bounce and pace to bother Pujara and Jackson for some time, bowling back to back maidens. It took Jackson 18 balls to get off the mark. There was no discipline and purpose but they got no solid result.

The pitch soon began to open up and the crack was more visible. Yuvi was quick to sense it and quickly employed Amit Mishra from one end and the military medium Binny from one end with some hope of making further inroads. However, there was still no success. Meanwhile, India Blue’s total past the 450 run mark with Pujara and Jackson reaching 150 and 50 respectively.

India Blue looked in firm position in the match at the moment as Cheteshwar Pujara’s tenth first-class double-hundred stretched their score to 693/6d at stumps on day two. Sheldon Jackson also enjoyed the run fest and hit a fantastic 134 and put on 243 runs for the 5^th wicket with his senior pro. The trouble misery did not end for India Red as they lost two quick wickets in the first over of the fresh innings and end with 16/2 on the board.

It was clearly Cheteshwar Pujara’s day. After resuming on 167 at tea, Pujara continued batting without and hassle and reached his 10th double century. He now sits in the prestigious company of Vijay Hazare, Sunil Gavaskar and Rahul Dravid among Indian batsmen who have as many double tons as him. Only Vijay Merchant, with 11, sits above him.

Yuvraj Singh didn’t really have any plans. How bowlers were simply toyed. The spinner kept bowling short as both Pujara and Jackson made good use of the crease to score runs easily off them.

There was no respite as both carried n batting till the 150^th over of the game before Jackson was dismissed by Amit Mishra who put up a wonderful diving effort to grab a low catch. Post the dismissal of his partner, Pujara sped up the run making process a bit batting with Ravindra Jadeja. Both added 88 runs for the 6th wicket Before Jadeja lost his wicket just two runs short of his half-century. After fall of Jadeja, skipper Gambhir decided to declare the innings. Pujara ended with a magnificent 256 to his name.

Brief Scores:

India Blue: 693/6d (C Pujara: 256*; Amit Mishra: 2/17)

India Red: 16/2 (S Dhawan14; Pankaj Singh 2/12)