Spinners put India Red in command

LUCKNOW: Slow bowlers Krishnappa Gowtham and Karn Sharma bowled superbly to help India Red dictate terms versus India Green on the second day of their Duleep Trophy match, at the Ekana Stadium on Friday.

Off-spinner Gowtham and leggie Karn mesmerised the India Green batsmen with the pink ball on a slow, dusty pitch, and bundled them out for 157, helping India Red take a 166-run firstinnings lead under lights.

Instead of enforcing a follow on, the Reds chose to bat again and were 19 for one with opener Priyank Panchal (11) and Rahul Singh Gahlaut (1) batting after opener Sudip Chatterjee (7) fell to part-time off-spinner Murali Vijay.

Karn Sharma scalped Murali Vijay (4) on the fifth ball of the innings’ second over following which Siddharth Kaul’s direct throw found Samarth short of the crease, reducing India Green to 10 for 2.

Prashant Chopra 65 (119b, 8x4) and Karun Nair 37 (92b, 4x4) then stitched together a 113-run stand for the third wicket, but a slower one from Gowtham saw Chopra edging to Rahul Gahlaut at forward short-leg.

Gowtham soon had Nair in similar fashion, before forcing skipper Parthiv Patel (17) to edge a regulation catch to Sudip Chatterjee in his next over to leave India Green struggling at 144 for 6.

Gowtham and Karn then wrapped up the innings with the latter snapping three wickets to take his first-class tally to 152 from 58 matches.

Earlier, India Red added 91 runs to their overnight score of 232 for five, finishing at 323 in the first innings.

Stand-in skipper Dinesh Karthik hit a 102- ball 50, which contained three fours. But once he departed, trapped lbw off Mohd Siraj, the remaining four wickets fell cheaply.

India Red Ist inn 323 (P Panchal 105, S Chatterjee 52, D Karthik 50; M Vijay 46/3, K Nair 17/2) & 19 for 1 vs India Green Ist inn 157 (P Chopra 65, K Nair 37; K Gowtham 46/5, K Sharma 39/4)