Having amassed 707 in their last match, India Blue seemed set to go even further in the Duleep Trophy final, as Cheteshwar Pujara's tenth first-class double-hundred stretched their score to 593 for 4 by the dinner break on day two. With him was Sheldon Jackson, who capitalised on three lives to move to 129 in an unbroken fourth-wicket partnership of 231.
With just over ten days to go for India's first Test against New Zealand, Pujara has made 166 and 212* in successive first-class matches, suggesting a return to the insatiable ways of his best years. Pujara now has as many first-class double-hundreds as Vijay Hazare, Sunil Gavaskar and Rahul Dravid among Indian batsmen, and only Vijay Merchant, with 11, sits above him.
Though Pujara began the day on 111 with a well-set Dinesh Karthik for company, the first session was far more testing for the batsmen than they might have anticipated. It opened with a wicket off the first ball, when Karthik, playing a loose drive away from his body, edged an innocuous delivery from Pradeep Sangwan onto his stumps.
Through the first session, the India Red quicks showed a substantial improvement from their day-one display, with Sangwan and Nathu Singh forcing the batsmen to play far more often and benefiting from occasional lateral movement when the ball pitched on one of the ever-widening cracks. Jackson, in particular, looked uncomfortable early on. His first 17 balls featured a number of plays and misses but not a single run. When he eventually got off the mark, it was courtesy an edge off Nathu that just evaded Yuvraj Singh at first slip.
The fast bowlers' improved showing seemed to rub off on the rest of the attack. Stuart Binny created the first genuine chance of the day when a length ball stopped on Jackson, who drove it in the air to the bowler's left. Though Binny got a hand to it, he was unable to hold on. Then Jackson, batting on 29, top-edged an attempted late cut off Amit Mishra and Yuvraj shelled a slip catch that ought to have been taken.
Having got through the tough initial period, Pujara and Jackson began to impose themselves. In addition to his usual repertoire of strokes, Pujara unfurled a couple of neat reverse-sweeps against Mishra. After his two reprieves, Jackson gradually became more assured and settled in to some fine strokeplay of his own. Pujara brought up his double ton and Jackson his ton and, though the latter was reprieved once again when Dhawan dropped him on 108 off Kuldeep Yadav, diving to his right at midwicket, the batsmen were now firmly in control.
As the day wore on, India Red's intensity dropped sharply. After the tea interval, Gurkeerat Singh and Kuldeep dished out a number of unthreatening overs that enabled the batsmen to milk their way to a double-century stand. Both tended to drop short, allowing the batsmen to rock back to cut or pull or clip the ball through midwicket. Their slowness in the air also offered opportunities for Pujara and Jackson to skip to the pitch and smother the spin.
It all seemed a bit too easy. The introduction of Yuvraj did little to change that. Nor did Mishra's switch to bowling around the wicket. As the total ticked past 500 and then towards 600, India Red spread the field and seemed content to let the game drift. And drift it did - further and further away from them.
No comments:
Post a Comment