With a fluent century, Cheteshwar Pujara (111*) took India Blue to 362 for three at stumps on Day 1 after Mayank Agarwal and Gautam Gambhir got the team off to a solid start with yet another century stand in the Duleep Trophy. En route his 33rd first-class hundred, the top-order batsman completed 10,000 runs in first-class cricket. He was batting with Dinesh Karthik (55*) at the end of day’s play in the final against India Red in Greater Noida.
In the tournament being played under lights with the pink ball, Gambhir elected to bat after winning the toss. With Agarwal, the highest run-getter of the tournament leading into the final, the captain worked to shape the innings. The pair bided their time at the crease as they looked to lay a platform for a competitive total.
While they diligently went about the task, Ankush Bains missed a chance off Kuldeep Yadav to send back Agarwal on 37. Having kept the bowlers at bay, the India Blue captain was the first to reach the half-century mark as they complemented each other to set the tone for the innings. With a single off Kuldeep towards sweeper cover, Gambhir reached his fourth consecutive half-century off the tournament in the first session. His partner was yet to get to 50-run mark as they took the team to Tea at 114 without loss at an unhurried pace.
Having taken a measure of the situation, both openers looked in good nick when they resumed in the second session and continued to glean runs off the opposition’s attack at a steady pace. However, a good low catch by Shikhar Dhawan at cover sent Agarwal back to the dressing room on 57 off Stuart Binny to end the flourishing stand.
Gambhir then carried the innings forward with Pujara. As he inched towards his century, the left-hand opener had claimed all of his eight boundaries off spinners – Amit Mishra and Kuldeep. Having played himself in, Gambhir was on 94 when he departed chopping a Kuldeep delivery on to the stumps, thus missing out on the three-figure mark.
While Rohit Sharma smacked Kuldeep to the fence to get off the mark later in the over, Pujara achieved the landmark of 10,000 runs in first-class cricket by driving Mishra through the covers in the next. The duo took the team to dinner at 211 for two.
In the final session of the day, Rohit was the first to depart. In the 10th over of the session, he took the aerial route, and Dhawan took the catch in the covers to give Mishra his first wicket with the pink ball. On the last ball off the over, Pujara pulled the leg-spinner to the fence to reach another sparkling fifty.
With Dinesh Karthik milking the bowlers, Pujara took the team past the 300-run mark. The duo maintained a steady flow of runs as they capitalised on the start provided by the openers. The wicketkeeper was fourth batsman in the lineup to reach the half-century mark on a slow track.
Towards the fag end of the day’s play, Pujara reached his second century of the tournament with a beautifully timed cover drive off Binny. The Karthik-Pujara pair saw the team through to the end of day’s play in an unbroken 120-run stand.
Brief scores:
Day 1 – India Blue 1st inn 362/3 in 90 overs (C Pujara 111*, G Gambhir 94, D Karthik 55*, S Binny 1/54, K Yadav 1/97)
