Lucknow: Washington Sundar’s all-round performance helped India Red clinch the Duleep Trophy title as they beat India Blue by 163 runs in Lucknow on Thursday.
The 17-year-old has been the talk of the town ever since the IPL this year and he has proved why he is such a highly rated cricketer. In the first innings, he made a handy 88 and then backed it up with a fine five-wicket haul that destroyed the opposition completely. In the second innings, he once again rose to the occasion to score an important 42-run knock and then followed it up with a match-winning six-wicket haul in the last innings to finish off the match in style.
Chasing 392, India Blue did not begin on a good note as they lost opener Ishan Kishan (18) to the left-arm spin of Sundar.
Abhimanyu Easwaran, who had scored a century in the first innings fell for just 21 runs as the Suresh Raina led side was starting to lose grip over the match.
However, an 80-run stand between skipper Raina (45) and Manoj Tiwary (38) temporarily helped India Blue stay in the match and once the southpaw fell, the collapse began as they next lost Tiwary, Srikar Bharat and Deepak Hooda in a space of just 10 runs.
Jaydev Unadkat, who had made a defiant 83 in the first innings was presented with a similar situation once again but couldn’t make the most of it as Vijay Gohil trapped him in front of the wicket.
Bhargav Bhatt then played a quality 51-run innings of just 41 balls which included five huge sixes and one four, but that wasn’t enough to save them the blushes as Dinesh Karthik’s rampaging India Red marched towards a win.
Brief scores-
India Red- (483 all out and 208 all out) beat India Blue-(299 all out and 229 all out) by 163 runs.