India Red take firm control

Abhinav Mukund and Sudip Chatterjee negated the opening-day dominance of bowlers with stroke-filled centuries and spurred India Red to a strong position over India Green in Duleep Trophy at Shahid Vijay Singh Pathik Sports Complex on Wednesday.

The Tamil Nadu opener’s unbeaten 22nd first class hundred was preceded by a fighting 77 in the first innings and came up in the final session under lights. Keeping him company while playing an ideal foil was a composed Chatterjee (144, 182b, 14x4), who conjured his sixth first class hundred. Their 240 runs second-wicket partnership in the second innings stretched Red’s overall lead to 354 on the second day.

Red were 344/3 in 78 overs with Mukund batting on 162 (212b, 19x4) and Gurkeerat Singh on 28 when stumps were drawn following an extended play.

 The start of the day’s play was interrupted by showers after just two overs were bowled. The delay lasted an hour and six minutes before Green, with an overnight score of 116/7, carried their innings forward. Saurabh Tiwary batted with purpose for his 50 but Nathu Singh, seaming the ball menacingly, single-handedly wiped out the Green’s tail to finish with an impressive 6/53, giving Red the first innings lead of 10 runs. 

A confident Red then quickly took control of the proceedings, boosted by sloppy work by Green on field. Mukund set the tone for Red’s second innings. Ankit Rajpoot left KS Bharat’s bails dancing in the air by seaming in the ball that caught the inside edge of the bat to blow away the middle stump. 

Mukund then stepped up to anchor the innings while Chatterjee settled into a measured start before coming fully to his own. The Bengal batsmen consumed 18 balls to open his account but the statistic was left redundant before his fluent strokeplay, particularly on the backfoot. He, though, steadily caught up and the Green side began to show signs of wearing out.

Mukund's knock was one of authority. He batted with gumption, displayed exquisite temperament and drove with flair. He brought up his second fifty of the match by pulling Rajpoot to the fence. He was twice given life on his way to his hundred, on 66 and 92, by Green’s captain Suresh Raina at slips. A flick off Rajpoot brought up his century. After some time, Chatterjee, dropped at 74 by Rajpoot off Ashok Dinda, too, followed the suit.

The highlight of this partnership was the quick pace with which these two left-handers collected the runs. The run-rate consistently hovered around around 4.5, their attacking strokeplay attracting applause and whistles from the spectators.

Chatterjee, however, couldn’t prolong his stay longer and was trapped leg before by Shreyas Gopal when trying to play him across.  Red captain Yuvraj Singh arrived amidst a loud cheer but fell tamely after facing mere 18 balls, driving a tossed up delivery of Jalaj Saxena back to the bowler. However, there was no stopping Mukund, who, along with Gurkeerat, ensured the Red keep the momentum with them.
DH News Service

Score board
INDIA RED (I innings): 161
INDIA GREEN (I innings; o/n: 116/7): Robin Uthappa b Nathu 1 (7b), Jalaj Saxena c Bharat b Nathu 10 (18b, 1x4), Parthiv Patel c Bharat b Yadav 24 (65b, 2x4), Rajat Paliwal lbw Nathu 1 (4b), Suresh Raina b Yadav 35 (56b, 5x4), Saurabh Tiwary c Anureet b Nathu 50 (80b, 7x4, 1x6), Shreyas Gopal c Yuvraj b Yadav 0 (3b), Sandeep Sharma (run out) 3 (13b), Ashok Dinda b Nathu 17 (31b, 3x4), Pragyan Ojha b Nathu 0 (3b), Ankit Rajpoot (not out) 0 (4b). Extras  (LB-1, NB-9) 10. Total (all out; 45.4 overs) 151.         
Fall of wickets: 1-1 (Uthappa) 2-25 (Saxena), 3-31 (Paliwal), 4-72 (Patel), 5-87 (Raina), 6-87 (Gopal), 7-100 (Sandeep), 8-139 (Dinda), 9-140 (Ojha).
Bowling: Anureet Singh 8-0-31-0 (3 nb), Nathu Singh 12.4-0-53-6 (6 nb), Kuldeep Yadav 15-4-32-3, Ishwar Pandey 5-0-19-0, Akshay Wakhare 5-0-15-0.
INDIA RED (II innings): KS Bharat b Rajpoot 20 (20b, 2x4, 1x6), Abhinav Mukund (batting) 162 (212b, 19x4), Sudip Chatterjee lbw Shreyas 114 (182b, 14x4), Yuvraj Singh c&b Saxena 10 (18b, 1x4, 1x6), Gurkeerat Mann (batting) 28 (37b, 3x4, 1x6).   Extras (B-7, LB-2, NB-1) 10. Total (for 3 wkts, in 78 overs) 344.
Fall of wickets: 1-39 (Bharat), 2-279 (Chatterjee), 3-300 (Yuvraj).
Bowling: Sandeep Sharma 13-2-53-0 (nb-1), Ashok Dinda 10-2-31-0, Ankit Rajpoot 11-0-63-1, Jalaj Saxena 20-0-69-1, Pragyan Ojha 7-0-45-0, Shreyas Gopal 16-3-67-1, Rajat Paliwal 1-0-7-0.