Greater Noida, Sept 14:
Ravindra Jadeja spiced up an otherwise uneventful final day with another lethal spell of left-arm spin as India Blue notched up a crushing 355-run win over Reds to clinch the inaugural day/night Duleep Trophy Tournament here this evening.
With the match already in Blue team’s pocket after a gigantic 337-run first innings lead, the fifth day was only of academic interest but Jadeja (5/76 in 18.1 overs) bundled out Reds, set an improbbable victory target of 517 runs, for 161 in 44.1 overs.
Jadeja’s match haul of 10/171 is his sixth 10-for in first-class cricket and will enhance his confidence as India get ready to take on New Zealand in a week’s time.
It was again the pace, approximately around 90 kmph, which made the difference as most of the deliveries straightened after pitching, with the odd ball turning away and a few coming in with the angle.
The batsmen could neither fully commit forward and those going for the cross-batted sweep shot paid the price because of his wicket to wicket line.
India Blue captain Gautam Gambhir today batted for 10 overs as his team added another 40 runs before declaring the second innings at 179 for five with a lead of 516 runs. Rohit Sharma (32 no) got 75 balls as part of his match practice before the Test series.
With victory out of question, one thought that it would be a case of playing out the required overs before the captains decide to call off the match.
After Abhinav Mukund was hit on the forearm by a Pankaj Singh snorter and subsequently retired, Shikhar Dhawan (29) and Sudeep Chatterjee (13) added 36 runs before Jadeja struck the first blow. (PTI)
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