Lad, Ramaswamy help India Red post 256 for 4

Siddesh Lad with a knock of 83 (batting) starred as India Red recovered from an early blow to post 256 for 4 at stumps against India Blue on the opening day of the second league match of the Duleep Trophy cricket tournament at the NPR College ground here today.

The experienced Red captain Abhinav Mukund was sent packing in the opening over of the match, leg-before wicket to Jaydev Unadkat.

The left-hander, who last played for the country in the Sri Lanka test series in 2017, fell to the second delivery he faced.

Vidarbha opener Sanjay Ramaswamy and Baba Aparajith, who scored a ton in the first match, put on 116 runs and fell in the space of six runs as they looked set for more.

Sanjay Ramaswamy was the more aggressive of the two as he cracked 13 fours in his knock of 72 while Aparajith hit six boundaries.

Ramaswamy fell to the off-spin of Akshay Wakhare, giving a catch to Ricky Bhui while Aparajith was snapped up by Faiz Fazal off left-arm spinner Saurabh Kumar for 48.

Lad took over after the fall of the two and mixed aggression with caution and came up with some delightful shots on both sides of the wicket.

His knock included 11 fours and two big sixes and enabled India Red reach 256 for 4 at close of play.

Ashutosh Singh, who made a patient 80 in the first match, retired hurt on 34.

Wicketkeeper Akshay Wadkar, who replaced Ashutosh added a further 50 runs with Lad before losing his wicket of the penultimate delivery of the day's play.

He was bowled by Andhra bowler B Ayyappa.

Lad, who had been named in the team for the quadrangular series in Bengaluru also featuring Australia 'A' and South Africa 'A' apart from Indian 'A' and 'B' teams, before being released to play in this tournament, made full use of the opportunity to underline his abilities.

Earlier, India Red skipper won the toss and elected to bat.

The team made three changes to its line-up bringing in Siddesh Lad, Parvez Rasool and Abhimanyu Mithun while leaving out Writtick Chatterjee, Mihir Hirwani and Prithvi Raj Yarra, who featured in the opening match against India Green.

Brief scores: India Red 256 for 4 in 89.5 overs (Sanjay Ramaswamy 72, Siddesh Lad 83 batting, B Aparajith 48) vs India Blue.