India Red's Abhinav Mukund and Gurkeerat Singh began Day 3 of the Duleep Trophy on Thursday at Greater Noida, looking to take off from where they had finished on Day 2, a comfortable 344/3 with a lead of 354. However, for Mukund, who had hit an unbeaten 162 on Day 2, his visit was a short one to the crease. He was out for 169 with Ashok Dinda accounting for his wicket.
The damage had already been done, though as Mukund had taken the game away from Suresh Raina, India Green's captain. Singh hit a quick-fire 82 to hand India Green a target of 497 to win.
With almost two days to achieve the target, India Green must have fancied their chances. But, bowler Kuldeep Yadav had other plans. He took a five-wicket hault to dismantle India Green to leave them struggling at 217/7. Yadav ended with figures 5/55 with Anureet Singh and Ishwar Pandey taking a wicket each for India Red. With an entire day to go on Friday, India Red's captain Yuvraj Singh will fancy his chances of a win since his side need only three wickets to win the match.
Earlier, India Red were bowled out for 496 with Shreyas Gopal being the leading wicket-taker with five wickets.
Brief scores: India Red 161 & 486 all out (Abhinav Mukund 169, Sudip Chatterjee 114, Shreyas Gopal 5/123) lead India Green 151 & 217/7 (Robin Uthappa 72, Kuldeep Yadav 5/55) by 279 runs