Ravindra Jadeja spiced up an otherwise
uneventful final day with another lethal spell of left-arm spin as India Blue notched up a crushing 355-run
win over Reds to clinch the inaugural day/night Duleep Trophy tournament in Greater Noida on Wednesday.
After having
been set an improbable target of 517 with two-and-a-half sessions to go on the
fifth day of the Duleep Trophy final, India Red's batsmen played a series of
poor shots to fall well short of the far more achievable goal of batting out
time for a draw.
They subsided
for 161 to hand India Blue a crushing 355-run victory and, with it, the Duleep
Trophy.
Ravindra Jadeja
took five wickets to add to his five in the first innings, and Karn Sharma
chipped in with three, but India Red's biggest nemesis was their own
indiscretion.
For a majority
of their innings, they seemed content to swing with abandon on a wearing pitch
that merited a far more calibrated approach.
There was
sharper turn than on the previous four days, but it remained slow turn and was
far from unplayable.
However, as
Jadeja, Karn and Parvez Rasool warmed into their respective spells, and began
putting balls in line with the stumps they became increasingly difficult to play.
About Duleep
Trophy:
a) The Duleep Trophy is a
domestic first-class cricket tournament played between teams representing
geographical zones of India.
b) The Tournament was instituted
in 1961-62 by BCCI.
c) The tournament is named after
Kumar Shri Duleepsinhji of Nawanagar. It was contested by three teams, namely
India Red, India Blue and India Green.
d) In June 2016, the Board of
Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had changed the feature of tournament
featuring day/night matches and to be played with pink ball.
