Prithvi Shaw became the youngest centurion in a Duleep Trophy Final on Monday, and the second-youngest centurion in the tournament’s history behind only Sachin Tendulkar (1:20)
India Blue 181 for 5 (Easwaran 87*, Gohil 3-65) trail India Red 483 (Shaw 154, Karthik 111, Sundar 88, Bhatt 4-154) by 302 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
The Duleep Trophy final continued to elicit strong performances from youngsters, with 21-year-old left-arm spinner Vijay Gohil and 17-year-old Washington Sundar flattening India Blue on the second day of the day-night fixture in Lucknow.
A day after Prithvi Shaw became the youngest centurion in a Duleep Trophy final, Sundar – who is 35 days older than Shaw – came close to grabbing second spot. The Tamil Nadu allrounder faced the first ball of the day for India Red after joining overnight batsman Ishank Jaggi at 317 for 5; almost 44 overs later, he would play the last ball of their innings, falling 12 short of a hundred. He had partnerships of 37 with Jaggi, 48 with Gohil, and 43 for the final wicket with Basil Thampi to lift India Red to 483. Sundar hit six fours and five sixes in his 118-ball 88.
India Blue’s senior bowlers, Ishant Sharma and Pankaj Singh, found no control, while Jaydev Unadkat picked up a wicket after going at 4.58. Spinners Bhargav Bhatt (4-154) and Akshay Wakhare (3-95) did most of the bowling.
Their senior batsmen didn’t fare well either. Manoj Tiwary, coming in at No. 3, put on 42 for the second wicket with Bengal team-mate and opener Abhimanyu Easwaran, who was fluent in a first-wicket stand of 51 where his partner KS Bharat made only 8. Tiwary played a loose shot however, chasing a length ball from Gohil that turned away and nicking behind. India Blue captain Suresh Raina faced four balls and was beaten three times. On his fourth delivery, he went down the track and was stumped against Sundar, who had been brought on specifically to bowl to the left-hander. Deepak Hooda then sliced Gohil to deep extra cover.
Through all this, Easwaran was solid, blocking the good balls and using sweeps and reverse-sweeps to alter the spinners’ lengths. He found an unlikely partner in Unadkat (27*) and took his team to 181 for 5 at stumps. Easwaran ended the day 13 away from a fourth first-class ton.
Source: ESPN Crickinfo