Shaw, Karthik hundreds lead India Red charge
The Report by Deivarayan Muthu, , September 25, 2017, http://www.espncricinfo.com/se...eport/1118611/day/1/
India Red 317 for 5 (Shaw 154, Karthik 111, Bhatt 3-83) v India Blue
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
India Red 317 for 5 (Shaw 154, Karthik 111, Bhatt 3-83) v India Blue
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
All of 17, Prithvi Shaw added another chapter to his rise: a hundred on Duleep Trophy debut, which led India Red's dominant batting display on a dry, grippy red-soil pitch in Lucknow. Shaw's sparkling 154 followed a match-winning hundred on Ranji Trophy debut against Tamil Nadu in the semi-finals earlier this year. Breaking into the India Red XI in the absence of Sudip Chatterjee, Priyank Panchal and Rishabh Pant - who are all with the India A side - Shaw combined with his captain Dinesh Karthik - who made his second hundred in Duleep Trophy finals - and punished an India Blue attack that lacked penetration and direction for most parts.
Vidarbha offspinner Akshay Wakhare and Andhra left-arm spinner Bhargav Bhatt, though, helped India Blue regain some lost ground under the floodlights. They removed the two centurions and B Indrajith, who prodded a bat-pad catch to short leg off what turned out to be the last ball of the day.
The pitch had shown signs of deterioration as early as the sixth over when Wakhare bowled a flat dart on off stump and induced a weak drive from Akhil Herwadkar and a puff of dust from the surface. He found immediate turn - of the slow variety - as did Bhatt but they kept erring in lines and lengths in the first two sessions. Shaw was severe on anything that was remotely full and outside off, drilling drives between backward point and mid-off. All told, he hit 10 of his 19 boundaries in that arc. While some of his strokes were sublime, others were fraught with risk like the one that made him the youngest centurion in a Duleep Trophy final: an audacious slash over wide slip. Shaw celebrated by holding his hands aloft and tapping the bat on his chest.
He had endured a nervous start, though, letting his hands wander away from his body, and having his splice jarred by fast offcutters and short deliveries from Ishant Sharma and Pankaj Singh. Shaw then bedded in and got stuck into Ishant, taking him for 36 off 49 balls, including seven fours. His Mumbai team-mate Herwadkar, who was more assured in defence, was happy to ride in Shaw's slipstream. They added 74 for the first wicket before Herwadkar set his sights on a non-existent single and was run out for 25, 10 minutes before tea.