MS Washington Sundar (11 wickets in the match) and Vijay Gohil (eight wickets in the match) bowled India Red to a 163-run win the Duleep Trophy, 2017 final against India Blue.
After setting India Blue a mammoth 393-run target, Sundar, who had also chipped in with the bat (88 and 42), returned to claim six for 87 in the second innings. His spin partner Gohil took three wickets in India Blue’s second innings as they bowled the side out for 229 with a day to spare.
Earlier, resuming on 187 for seven on the fourth morning, India Red lost their remaining three wickets for the addition of 21 runs to the overnight total. Sundar was the first to depart on his overnight score of 42. While the batsman was done in by Bhargav Bhatt off the second ball of the day, Akshay Wakhare accounted for Siddharth Kaul and Basil Thampi to wrap-up the innings in the first hour of the day’s play.
Chasing a big target, Ishan Kishan opened the innings with Abhimanyu Eswaran in the second innings. However, Sundar who has been the in-form man for India Red set the ball rolling by rattling Kishan’s stumps in the fifth over. After 20 runs, Gohil trapped the other opener lbw to leave India Blue on 47 for two.
Experienced campaigners – Manoj Tiwary and Suresh Raina - then joined hands in a bid to revive the innings. The pair took India Blue to Tea at 86 for two. In the second session though, the U19 debutant spinner ended the fourth wicket partnership for 80 runs and continued to wreck the line-up. He trapped the left-handed batsman lbw for 45 and followed up with the wickets of Tiwary and KS Bharat in his next over to leave the side reeling at 132 for five. In his following over, he drew an edge from Deepak Hooda to the slips to claim his fifth wicket of the innings and complete his maiden ten-wicket haul. In the process, he became the first to score a fifty and take 10 wickets on Duleep Trophy debut.
Debutant Gohil then joined in dismantling the line-up further. The left-arm spinner caught Jaydev Unadkat leg before wicket and 18 runs later caught Wakhare off his own bowling to leave the team on 177 for eight.
After 33 runs, Bhatt who had put forth resistance lower down the order was returned for 51 off Suryakumar Yadav. Ishant Sharma and Pankaj Singh then added 19 runs until Sundar castled the latter to claim victory with his 11th scalp of the match.
Result - India Red won by 163 runs.
Scores: End of Day 1 – India Red 1st inn 317/5 in 83.3 overs (P Shaw 154, D Karthik 111, I Jaggi 9*, B Bhatt 3/83)
End of Day 2 – India Red 1st inn 483/10 in 127.2 overs (MSW Sundar 88, A Wakhare 3/95, B Bhatt 4/154); India Blue 1st inn 181/5 in 45 overs (A Eswaran 87*, J Unadkat 27*, V Gohil 3/65, MS W Sundar 2/55) Trail by 302 runs
End of Day 3 – India Blue 1st inn 299/10 in 67 overs (A Eswaran 127, J Unadkat 83, , MS W Sundar 5/94, V Gohil 5/121); India Red 2nd inn 187/7 in 62 overs (B Indrajith 59, MSW Sundar 42*, S Kaul 5*, B Bhatt 3/75, A Wakhare 2/53) Lead by 371 runs.
End of Day 4 – India Red 2nd inn 208/10 in 67.5 overs (MSW Sundar 42, A Wakhare 4/66, B Bhatt 4/77) ; India Blue 2nd inn 229/10 in 48 overs (S raina 45, B Bhatt 51, MSW Sundar 6/87, V Gohil 3/102)
Man of the Match - Washington Sundar for best match figures on Duleep Trophy debut (11-181) and 130 runs with the bat.
