Kanpur: Off-spinner Parvez Rasool starred with the ball for India Green as they bowled out the Suresh Raina led India Blue on the first day of the Duleep Trophy match in Kanpur on Tuesday.
The Jammu and Kashmir bowler had missed his team’s first game of the competition against India Red went on register his ninth five-wicket haul in first class cricket to shoot out India Blue for just 177 in 52 overs.
Left-arm medium pacer Aniket Choudhary provided with the initial breakthroughs as he ended up scalping the crucial wickets of openers Samit Goel (1) and Srikar Bharat (10) and wicketkeeper batsman Ishan Kishan (0).
Mayank Dagar, the left-arm spinner also took two wickets.
After the openers departed, skipper Suresh Raina (40) and Bengal’s Manoj Tiwary began the rebuilding work as they stitched a 90-run stand that momentarily helped India Blue stay in the game. But after the southpaw fell to Rasool after tea in the 29th over, the India Green bowlers sniffed a collapse as they struck at regular intervals to not leave any room for a comeback for India Blue.
Amidst the batting collapse, Tiwary stood tall with 78 from 138 deliveries which included 12 fours and a six. This knock also brought up his 28th half-century in first class cricket which was all about grit and class.
In reply, India Green lost three wickets in their pursuit of India Blues’ first innings total. Ishant Sharma who too was playing his first match in this edition of the Duleep Trophy drew first blood when he removed opener Nitin Saini for 25. Right-arm off-spinner Akshay Wakhare and medium pacer Pankaj Singh also got the wickets of Kaushik Gandhi (39) and Prashant Chopra (26) respectively.
This match is all the more important for the Parthiv Patel led India Green as they need to win it at any cost to make it to the final beginning on September 25. However, a draw for India Blue would be sufficient for them to book a place in the finals.
Brief scores-
India Green 100/3 in 31.5 overs (Kaushik Gandhi 39, Prashant Chopra 26; Ishant Sharma 1/15) trail India Blue 177 all out in 52 overs (Manoj Tiwary 78, Suresh Raina 40; Parvez Rasool 5/70) by 77 runs.