ON A DAY when two sessions were lost due to a soggy outfield, it was left-arm chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav who stood out with yet another dazzling display, picking up four wickets in a span of just 13 deliveries towards the fag end of the final session to bring India Red back in the game. Kuldeep bowled with purpose, and got ample drift and grip from the Day 2 track. The Uttar Pradesh bowler varied his length cleverly, and was not afraid to give the ball air. And in between, he slipped in those well directed flippers, which had India Blue’s middle order batsmen gasping. Kuldeep began Blue’s slide in the 56th over, deceiving a well set Mayank Agarwal for 92. And two overs later, when he removed Suryakumar Yadav and Karn Sharma off consecutive deliveries, the Uttar Pradesh spinner was on a hat-trick. Dinesh Karthik walked out and played the party-pooper, quietly padding away Kuldeep’s hat-trick ball without much trouble. But the spinner was not done yet. Three balls into his next over, he had Baba Aparajith caught at the second slip for 19. From 1/188, India Blue had slipped to 4 Like in the last game, Kuldeep was at his vicious best with the pink ball under lights. In the opening session on Day 1, he looked a little anxious, and was guilty of dropping it short. Tonight, Kuldeep was a different bowler altogether. His spell was the highlight in an otherwise insipid day. To put things in perspective, out of the 13 wickets Kuldeep has taken in the two games so far, 12 have come under lights. His final analysis read: 18-2-49-4. The delayed start on Day 2, notwithstanding, both India Blue openers were watchful, continuing with their dogged approach, which helped them prosper on the opening day. Gambhir continued to ride his luck with two streaky boundaries, both thick outside edges that flew past the slip cordon. Barring these two shots, the Blue captain batted with restraint and utmost care. Despite the wet outfield and heavy moisture cover, neither Sangwan nor Pandey got any nip from the pink ball. Mayank, after playing out a couple of overs, got into his groove, playing some pleasant cover drives. Two of his standout shots in the evening session were his pull shots - one each against Ishwar Pandey and Nathu Singh. The young Rajasthani pacer finally got the first scalp for the Reds, dismissing Gambhir plumb in front for 77. The delivery was sharp and it held its line. The Gambhir-Mayank opening stand had yielded 151 runs. Two days, 62 overs A total of 62 overs were possible on two days in this second Duleep Trophy encounter. On Day 1, 34. 2 over were bowled after which heavy rains drenched the outfield to such an extent that puddles were formed. Day 2 began on a sombre note. Overcast conditions and a soggy outfield. The worst affected region was the bowler’s run-up area at the Pavilion End. It bore a soggy look, almost 24 hours after the heavy downpour. The groundstaff, who were on their feet since 8.30 in the morning, were busy covering the damp area in the region with sand, when the umpires walked out for inspection. At 6.30 pm, after two sessions were washed out because of a wet outfield, and two futile inspections later, the umpires, curator and other match officials got into a huddle. And after much deliberation, they decided to resume play at 8.00 pm. And just when the players had come out on the field for the first time in the evening, a drizzle delayed proceedings further by 15 minutes. However, Kuldeep lit up an otherwise dour day. Brief scores (Day Two): India Blue 200/5 in 62 overs (Gautam Gambhir 77, Mayank Agarwal 92; Kuldeep Yadav 4/49) vs India Red
