After toiling on the field for two days, India Green continued to suffer in Greater Noida as India Blue's Abhimanyu Mithun (3/16) reduced Suresh Raina's team to 237. In the second innings,bMayank Agarwal (49 not out) and Gautam Gambhir (36 not out) once again blunted the India Green bowlers. India Blue ended day three at 85/0, with a humongous lead of 555.

Everything that Gambhir tried paid off as his bowlers responded to the batsmen piling up 707 in the first innings. Karn Sharma's spin was introduced early and Murali Vijay was castled in the fourth over of the day. There was very little to write home about India's Green's batting, apart from a confident half-century from Parthiv Patel (55) and skipper Raina, who battled injury to score a 43-ball 52.

Mithun and Pankaj Singh were tidy and forced the batsmen to play away from the body outside the off-stump. That is exactly what led to Jalaj Saxena and Robin Uthappa's downfall. The Karnataka opener had struck a slew of boundaries and looked poised to get to a big score before he was forced into a cut shot, edging the ball to 'keeper Dinesh Karthik.

Saurabh Tiwary's innings also took a similar route to Uthappa's. The southpaw had smashed three fours off Sharma, but took off for a needless single and was run out at the non striker's end. When Patel and Shreyas Gopal dug in, India Blue looked flustered for the first time in the game.

Patel was immense, scoring on both sides of the wicket. Gopal decided to play the sheet anchor's role and the duo brought up a 78-run stand. It was smart captaincy from Gambhir that brought the partnership to an end. Just as the spinners were leaking runs, especially from Patel's blade, the pacers were brought on. Sharma was smashed for four fours and a six by Patel during this phase.

The disciplined Mithun, getting a hint of bounce, forced a nick off Gopal to give Karthik his third catch. Patel was trapped in front by Pankaj Singh. The brave Raina came out to bat at No. 7 after missing out on day two.

Raina played with a straight bat and was severe on the off side, playing some ferocious short-arm jabs. With Gambhir continuing to attack, his bowlers cleaned up the tail. Raina was outfoxed by a hint of turn on leg stump by Rasool and was too late to react, and was adjudged leg-before.

Gambhir and Agarwal, for the third time in succession, then breezed away with the latter surely knocking on the doors for a selection in the national team with his recent displays. Gambhir may call for an early declaration tomorrow.

Brief scores:

India Blue 707 (Mayank Agarwal 161, Cheteshwar Pujara 166, Sheldon Jackson 105; Shreyas Gopal 5/173) and 85/0 (Mayank Agarwal 49 not out) lead India Green (Parthiv Patel 55, Suresh Raina 52; Abhimanyu Mithun 3/16, Karn Sharma 3/74) by 555 runs.