Duleep Trophy Final, Match Report: Ravindra Jadeja’s 5-for seals India Blue’s victory by 355 runs

Duleep Trophy Final, Match Report: Ravindra Jadeja's 5-for seals India Blue's victory by 355 runs

By CricketCountry Staff Updated: Sep 14, 2016, 7:10 PM IST

Ravindra Jedeja claimed 10 wickets in the final of Duleep Trophy © AFP

Ravindra Jadeja’s 5-for in the second innings helped India Blue to clinch the Duleep trophy 2016 by 355 runs against Yuvraj Singh led India Red. Chasing huge target of 516, India red could only muster a total of 161 in their second innings as Jadeja bagged his second 5-for of the match making 10 wickets for him in the final of the Duleep Tophy 2016. Initially it was Cheteshwar Pujara who scored an unbeaten knock of 254 in the first innings which formed a formidable base for their victory in the first day-night Test match to be played with pink ball in India. ALSO READ: India announce squad for Test series vs New Zealand India Blue started off with a shaky start as their inform opener Abhinav Mukund had to walk back to the dressing room with an injury. With an inform opener back in the dugout, problems did not ended for the Reds as they kept on loosing wickets at regular intervals. Ravindra Jadeja continued with his impressive form from the first innings as he bothered the Red batting line up with tight line and length. He was also getting good turn and bounce from the pitch as he kept on tossing up the ball which posed as a threat for the Blue batsman. READ: Cheteshwar Pujara completes 10,000 First-Class runs India blue batsman tried to take some aggressive approach towards the spin attack as captain Yuvraj Singh and Gurkeerat Mann tried to accelerate their scoring with some big shots down the ground. But this momentum as broken by Jadeja as he removed Yuvraj Singh who ended up top edging a attempted sweep shot at long leg. After this it was all Jadeja’s show was he kept on getting wickets at regular interval. Seeing the help Jedeja was receiving from the wicket, Gambhir deployed spin from other end as well. Karn Sharma and Parvez Rasool started bowling in tandem which made the batting look awkward as it could get. Gurkeerat played an attacking knock towards the end once he realised that he had no other partner lft to bat with him. He played some attacking strokes before finally perishing as he attempted to heave one over covers but eventually ended up outside the crease and keeper Dinesh Karthik stumped him on the bowling of Karn Sharma. Gurkeerat made 39 runs off 37 balls which included four huge sixes and one boundary. Having won the toss India Blue captain Gautam Gambhir opted to bat and his decision was backed well by all the batsman as they went on to post a huge total of 693 for six wickets in their first innings. Pujara was the standout batsman for his team as he scored an unbeaten knock of 256. Sheldon Jackson also scored a ton 134 off 204 balls towards the latter stage of the game to take his side to 693. The first day’s play was completely dominated by India Blue as Pujara played a thunderous innings with bat and then Jadeja rattled the India Red batting with his bowling as he ended with figures of 5 for 95 in the first innings. India Red scored 356 in their first innings thanks to some good batting effort from Start Binny as he scored 98 off 159 deliveries. Amit Mishra also played a good hand with his knock of 65 towards the latter stage of the game but was never enough. Blue had a lead of 337 runs in the second innings as they came out to bat. The Blue openers Mayak Agrawal and Gautam Gambhir started the innings quite well as they made a first wicket stand off 67. But Blue could not display their same batting effort in the second innings as their batsmen crumbled against the spin of Kuldeep Yadav who bagged three wickets. Eventually India Blue ended their innings at 179 for five wickets as they put up a target if 516 for India Red to chase and win the title of Duleep Trophy 2016 champions. But India Red never looked in the race to chase the total of 516 as they kept on loosing wickets at regular interval as they suffered under the spin attack from Jadeja from one end and Karn Sharma and Parvez Rasool from the other before they finally ended their innings at 161. Opener Mukund never came into bat after his departure due to an injury andthat is how the whole innings ended for India Red Brief Scores: India Blue 693 for 6 decl. (Gautam Gambhir 94, Cheteshwar Pujara 256*, Sheldon Jackson 134; Amit Mishra 2 for 171) & 179 for 5 (Gautam Gambhir 36, Mayank Agarwal 52 ; Kuldeep Yadav 3 for 62) defeated India Red 356 all out (Stuart Binny 98, Amit Mishra 65; Ravindra Jadeja 5 for 95 ) and 161 for 10 (Gurkeerat Singh Mann 39, Shikhar Dhawan 29; Ravindra Jadeja 5 for 76) by 355 runs.

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