Karun Nair continued his impressive form, hitting an unbeaten 77 as India Red reached 140/2 in their first innings in reply to India Green’s 440 at stumps on day two of the Duleep Trophy match at Bengaluru on Friday.
Nair, who had scored 99 and 166 not out in the previous game against India Blue, hit 14 fours during his enterprising knock. The other opener, Abhimanyu Easwaran, was retired hurt. India Red still trail India Green by 300 runs.
Earlier, off-spinner Akshay Wakhare (5/103) took five wickets as India Red dismissed India Green for 440. Nair, who joined captain Priyank Panchal after Easwaran retired hurt, was on the look out for runs from the word go, continuing his good form from the previous match. He added 43 runs with Mahipal Lomror (22*).
Resuming at 308/4, overnight batsmen Priyam Garg (53) and ‘keeper Akshay Wadkar (44) negotiated the first 30 minutes of play rather easily and kept the scoreboard ticking. Garg fell soon after reaching his fifty, dismissed by Aditya Sarwate. Dharmendrasinh Jadeja (37), who joined Wadkar in the middle, played aggressively and quickly raised 51 runs for the sixth wicket.
However, he was dismissed by Wakhare for his second wicket, caught by Panchal. The India Green innings fell apart after Jadeja’s dismissal as Vidarbha spinner Akshay Wakhare picked up two wickets while Kerala pacer Sandeep Warrier got in on the act, accounting for Rahul Chahar (1) caught behind by KS Bharat, and Ankit Rajpoot (0) bowled.
Wakhare dismissed Ishan Porel to end the India Green’s first innings at 440 and complete his five-wicket haul.
Brief scores:
India Green: 440 (Akshath Reddy 146, Siddhesh Lad 64, Dharmendrasinh Jadeja 37, Priyam Garg 53, Dhruv Shorey 44; Akshay Wakhare 5/103, Avesh Khan 2/63, Sandeep Warrier 2/74) lead India Red 140/2 (Karun Nair 77*, Priyank Panchal 31, Dharmendrasinh Jadeja 2/36) by 300 runs.