Bowlers dominate first day of Duleep Trophy tie

Bowlers dominated with the pink ball with as many as 17 wickets falling on the opening day of the Duleep Trophy clash between India Red and India Green at the Greater Noida Sports Complex here on Tuesday.

At stumps, India Green were on 116/7 in their first innings, trailing India Red's first innings total by 45 runs. Sourabh Tiwary (27 not out) and Ashok Dinda (8 n.o.) were in the middle at the close of play.

Suresh Raina was the highest scorer for the Greens with 35 runs off 56 balls including five hits to the fence.

Left-arm spinner Kuldeep Yadav and fast bowlers Nathu Singh were the pick of the bowlers among the Reds with three wickets each.

Yadav had figures of 3/26 off 13 overs while Nathu returned 3/32 off seven overs.

Earlier, pacers Ankit Rajpoot and Sandeep Sharma dominated with the ball as India Red were dismissed for 161 runs in 48.2 overs.

Rajpoot claimed figures of 3/16 while Sandeep returned 3/62.

Opener Abhinav Mukund produced a fighting half century for the Reds but hardly received any support from the other end as only three other India Red batsmen managed to reach double figures.

Mukund scored 77 runs off 116 balls, studding his innings with 12 boundaries.

Anureet Singh came up with a hurricane innings lower down the order, scoring 32 runs, hitting six boundaries and a six during his 21-ball stay in the middle.

Brief scores: India Red (first innings) 161 (Abhinav Mukund 77, Anureet Singh 32; Ankit Rajpoot 3/16, Sandeep Sharma 3/62) vs India Green (first innings) 116/7 (Suresh Raina 35; Kuldeep Singh 3/26, Nathu Singh 3/32).

--IANS

ajb/lok