India Red in cruise control of Duleep final after Shaw’s ton
Young opener Prithvi Shaw on Monday became the youngest batsman to score a hundred on debut in Duleep Trophy as India Red were off to a fine start against India Blue in the final at the Ekana International Cricket Stadium. Shaw had hit a century on his Mumbai debut in the Ranji Trophy during the semi-final in January against Tamil Nadu. It had made him the first Mumbai batsman to score a hundred on Ranji Trophy debut in more than two decades.
On the opening day of the Duleep Trophy final on Monday, Shaw scored 114 as India Red finished at 203/2 in 52 overs at the dinner break. Skipper Dinesh Karthik (56 off 78b, 6x4) was giving him company at the other end.
The pint-sized Shaw took the limelight away from India star seamer Ishant Sharma playing for India Blue with his sparkling batting. His 114 came off 158 balls with 15 fours and a six. His chanceless knock left rival skipper Suresh Raina run out of ideas as he used as many as eight bowlers, including himself and parttimer Manoj Tiwary. But nothing worked against Shaw.
Starting with a blazing cover
LUCKNOW:
drive off Ishant Sharma, 17-yearold Shaw showed great character on the red-clay pitch, cutting, driving and even slashing the ball with sheer power and perfection.
After playing five dot balls off Ishant’s seventh over, Shaw slashed a delivery outside the off-stump for four to complete his second first-class century in his third match. In fact, it was a perfect toss to win for Karthik, who chose to bat on this slow surface.
The slow bowlers, including Bhargav Bhatt and Raina, spun the ball well posing some problems for Karthik, but it didn’t make a difference to Shaw.
Ishant went wicketless as both Shaw and fellow opener Akhil Herwadkar (25, 64, 4x4) dominated, stitching together a 74-run stand before Akhil wasrun out by Unadkat’s brilliant throw.
Surya Kumar Yadav (8, 12b, 1x4) fell cheaply.
Two wickets in quick succession raised hopes for India Blue, but Shaw and Karthik replied with an unbeaten 114-run stand for the third-wicket.