In-form chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav led India Red's fightback with a four-wicket burst to reduce India Blue to 200 for five on another rain-hit day in the Duleep Trophy here today.
Gautam Gambhir (77) and Mayank Agarwal (92) missed out on centuries before Yadav's sublime spell brought the match alive after a chunk of second day's play was lost due to rain, much like the opening day at the Greater Noida Sports Complex Ground.
After 34.2 overs on day one, 27.4 overs were possible today in the match played with pink ball and under lights. However, they were enough for a turnaround with India Blue losing half their side for 95 runs after resuming the day at a comfortable 105 for no loss.
Yadav picked up a flurry of wickets towards the close of play to bring India Red back into the contest after Gambhir and Agarwal forged a 151 run stand for the opening wicket.
Yadav, who had taken a nine wicket match haul in the Duleep Trophy opener here last week, was on song again.
The momentum shifted in favour of India Red with the fall of captain Gambhir, who was trapped in front by Nathu Singh.
Thereafter, Yadav came to the party with help from India Blue batsmen who were out playing loose shots.
Yadav first had Agarwal stumped as the opener tried to hit him out of the park for the second time in the over. Suryakumar Yadav (5) met a similar fate while trying to be aggressive.
Karn Sharma was Yadav's next scalp which put him on a hat-trick. He was denied a hat-trick but not another wicket by stumps as he had Baba Aparajith caught by Nitish Rana to end the day on a high.
Dinesh Karthik and Sheldon Jackson were yet to open their account when stumps were called.
Brief Scores: India Blue 200/5 in 62 overs (Gautam Gambhir 77, Mayank Agarwal 92; Kuldeep Yadav 4/49) vs India Red.
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