Duleep Trophy, IND Red v IND Green Review: Part-timers bring Greens back after Panchal's heroics

In the preview of the 56th Duleep Trophy, we have written about a certain batter from the India Red team to keep an eye on. The man from Ahmedabad, Priyank Panchal performed up to the expectations today (September 7) here at the Ekana International Cricket Stadium in Lucknow. Banking on his classic knock, the Reds are in a good position even after the late stumble.

Once thought of as a dead tournament, the competition finally went underway today after a lot of hustle and bustle. But one thing is inevitable and that is the steep decline in the viewership of the competition. Only the closest followers of Indian cricket were aware that big names like Murali Vijay, Parthiv Patel, Dinesh Karthik and Rishabh Pant took the field today.

However, the shining star of this lukewarm inaugural day of this year’s Duleep Trophy is certainly Panchal. Winning the toss, Red’s skipper Karthik opted to bat first. The 27-year-old opened the innings alongside the man from West Bengal, Sudip Chatterjee. Not that the bowling lineup of the Greens was weak, but Sudip and Priyank were in no mood to let the big opportunity slip out of their hands.

Parthiv Patel’s frontline bowlers fought hard, but their efforts were not enough to break the rock solid partnership, before some brilliance from Aniket Choudhary. The first wicket came in the form of Chatterjee, who was undone by the left-arm pacer after a solid knock of 52. The Bacheli born cricketer Ishank Jaggi was the next batter in line.

The comeback

After a solid opening stand, Jaggi and Priyank accumulated 75 odd runs before the former threw his wicket to veteran Indian batter Murali. After consuming 101 balls, all Jaggi could accumulate was 23, as the game evidently was running on the 2nd gear. Jaggi’s dismissal saw skipper Karthik become a part of the action, but he was in no mood to pet his feet on the accelerator either.

While the wicketkeeper-batsman was relaxing out there on the 22 yards, Panchal completed his well-crafted century. Not Karthik, but Panchal was the main target for Reds, as India Green were slowly but steadily approaching the 200-run mark. As it often happens in this unpredictable game of cricket, a part-time bowler did the trick today as well. The ‘Massiah’ for PP was Karun Nair, who handed Panchal the one-way departure ticket when the Reds were just a run away from 200.

Not a ‘dead rubber’ anymore

The game was alive again. Gahlaut Rahul Singh didn’t trouble the scorers much and departed after hitting a boundary, thereby bringing parity back in the match. At 203/4, the match was again balanced at equilibrium and all it needed was a big wicket, that of the dangerous Rishabh Pant.

Patel continued to bank on the part-timers to strike and this time it was the Indian Test opener, Vijay. Pant edged one from the Tamil Nadu man into the waiting big hands of Parthiv. The scoreboard now read 221/5 and the game had a lot more in store than it initially appeared to be.

While Pant’s dismissal was the last success of the day for Parthiv’s team, the game is hanging in a perfectly mouth-watering balance at 232/5. DK is still standing tall at the crease with Krishnappa Gowtham. In such a situation, Day 2 will prove to be vital and might be a deciding factor later in the game.

Brief scores:

India Red 1st Innings- 232/5 (Priyank Panchal 105, Sudip Chatterjee 52; Karun Nair 2/17, Murali Vijay 2/15).