Duleep Trophy final: Jaydev Unadkat takes four wickets as India Red dominate India Green on day one

Left-arm pacer Jaydev Undakat bagged a four-wicket haul to help India Red seize early initiative in the Duleep Trophy final as India Green were left reeling at 147/8 on the rain-hit opening day in Bengaluru on Wednesday.

It turned out to be stop-start day after India Green captain Faiz Fazal opted to bat. Mayank Markande, batting at number eight, emerged top-scorer with his 32-run unbeaten knock as Unadkat and his bowling colleagues never allowed the rival batmen to settle by picking up wickets at regular intervals.

Fazal fell leg-before wicket to Unadkat for 16 after adding 19 runs for the opening wicket with Akshath Reddy. Reddy (16) and Delhi batsman Dhruv Shorey (23) then put on 34 runs with the former adopting a positive approach.

However, three wickets – Shorey, Siddhesh Lad and Reddy in the space of 12 runs, pegged India Green back. While Shorey nicked one to wicket-keeper Ishan Kishan off Sandeep Warrier (1/25), Lad fell to Unadkat and Reddy’s patient knock ended when he was run-out.

With Green in trouble at 73/4 in 25 overs, rain stopped play. When the game resumed, Akshdeep Nath (29) and Akshay Wadkar (6) looked to do the rescue act by adding 27 runs.

Left-arm spinner Aditya Sarwate ended the stand, having Nath caught by skipper Priyank Panchal with the score at 92. Green lost the wickets of Wadkar and all-rounder Dharmendrasinh Jadeja (15) to slip further. Unadkat had his fourth scalp, when he had Rajesh Mohanty caught behind for a duck.

However, Markande’s defiant knock and his 35-run stand for the ninth wicket with Tanveer ul-Haq (8*) ensured that Green finished the day without any further setbacks. Rain stopped play with Green at 133/8 in 43 overs. Played resumed after some time but only six more overs were possible with bad light ending the day’s proceedings.

Brief Scores:

India Green: 147/8 (Mayank Markande 32*, Akshdeep Nath 29; Jaydev Unadkat 4/58) vs India Red