On a day when only 34.2 overs were bowled, Gautam Gamhir (51 not out) and Mayank Agarwal (53 not out) survived some nervy moments before bringing up their respective half-centuries on Day 1 at Greater Noida on Monday. India Red's pace trio of Nathu Singh, Pradeep Sangwan and Ishwar Pandey came close but walked away without any reward for their efforts. Before rain washed out close to two sessions of play, India Blue were placed at a very comfortable 105/0.
After a spectacular batting collapse less than a week ago, Yuvraj Singh sent the opposition to bat first after winning the toss and his bowlers had the India Blue openers on the backfoot. Sangwan got plenty of movement away from the batsmen and Gambhir was made to work hard for his runs.
The left-armer pacer also had a close leg-before decision turned down. Nathu Singh then almost got the breakthrough but Sangwan dropped a relatively easy chance at fine-leg. Akshay Wakhare and Kuldeep Yadav could not sustain the pressure created by the pacers and the openers slowly got on top of the bowlers.
Yadav hardly got the turn that earned him his maiden five-wicket haul last week. Agarwal once again got a life after Nathu Singh latched on to a caught and bowled effort. Alas, a no-ball was called. Shortly after lunch, Agarwal got to his fifty and Gambhir slammed two back-to-back boundaries to get to his landmark before skies opened up.
Brief scores:
India Blue 105/0 (Mayank Agarwal 53 not out, Gautam Gambhir 51 not out) vs India Red
