Duleep Trophy: Indrajith's double ton helps India Red post 383; Blue steady

India Red rode on Baba Indrajith's double ton to post a challenging 383 and have an upper hand on India Blue who trailed by 167 runs at the end of Day 2 in the D/N Duleep Trophy cricket tie at the Green Park here on Thursday.

At stumps, India Blue, led by Suresh Raina, were 216/3 with Hanuma Vihari batting on 86 and Deepak Hooda giving him company on 23.

Raina (52 off 82 balls; 4x7) failed to lead from the front despite a good start while seasoned campaigner Manoj Tiwary (20) also failed with the bat.

Earlier for India Red, Indrajith, who was not out on 120 at stumps on the first day, hit 20 fours and six sixes en route to his double ton. None of the other Red batsmen could score even a half century.

Ankit Rajpoot was the pick of the bowlers for India Blue, returning with figures of 3/56 while left-arm pacer Jaydev Unadkat picked up a couple of wickets too.

Part-time spinner Tiwary came in handy as well bagging two wickets including the prized scalp of Indrajith.

For the Blue, Vihari looked good for his 86, his innings studded with 14 fours. Karn Sharma, Basil Thampi and Vijay Gohil picked up the wickets for the Red.

Brief scores: India Red 1st innings 383 (Baba Indrajith 200; Ankit Rajpoot 3/56) vs India Blue 1st innings 216/3: (Hanuma Vihari 86 not out, Suresh Raina 52, Deepak Hooda 23 not out).

--IANS

dm/tri/dg