Mukund, Chatterjee overcome pink fear

Sabi Hussain

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 24

Abhinav Mukund and Sudip Chatterjee swatted away the first-day blues of facing the pink ball under lights to score impressive centuries on the second day of the day/night Duleep Trophy fixture here today.  

Mukund’s unbeaten 162 off 212 balls and Chatterjee’s 114 put India Red in a commanding position against a demoralised India Green as the duo stitched a 240-run partnership for the second wicket to help their side extend the lead to 354 runs. At the draw of stumps, India Red were 344/3 in 78 overs in reply to India Green’s 151 in their first essay.

While 17 wickets fell for 277 runs in 83.2 overs on the opening day, the second day saw 379 runs scored in 88.4 overs for the loss of just six wickets. The post dinner session alone, in which 43 overs were bowled, yielded 172 runs for the loss of just two wickets with the India Red batsmen scoring at 4 runs per over.  

India Green tried to pull things back by snaring Chatterjee and an out-of-form Yuvraj Singh (10) in quick succession, but Gurkeerat Singh (28 batting), in the company of Mukund, ensured India Red lost no more wickets. India Red were bundled out for 161 in their first innings, mainly due to poor shot selection and nervousness of facing the pink ball for the first time in Indian conditions. India Green, too, didn’t fare any better as the right-arm lanky pacer Nathu Singh rattled them with an impressive 6 /53 haul. He was ably supported by chinaman Kuldeep Yadav, who picked up three wickets for 32 runs.

India Red’s Mukund and Kona Bharat looked far more comfortable in the second innings. The ball came on to the bat nicely and the shot-making looked easy. Mukund and Bharat looked set for a long haul but pacer Ankit Rajpoot produced a gem-of-a-delivery that jagged back to crash into Bharat’s stumps. He scored 20. 

After Bharat’s fall, it was a Mukund and Chatterjee show all the way. While Mukund was aggressive right from the start, not allowing the India Green pace trio of Sandeep Sharma, Dinda and Rajpoot to settle, Chatterjee took time to get his eye in before matching his partner shot for shot. 

Rajpoot and Sharma, after the first drinks break and before the dinner session, got good seam movement but both the batsmen negotiated it well.  The pink ball was doing a bit as there was still some grass coating left on the pitch, but Mukund and Chatterjee showed the pink ball could be handled if one spends time on the crease. 

While Mukund relied on upper cuts, pull shots and straight drives, Chatterjee dealt in square drives and late cuts to frustrate the India Green bowlers. Mukund got lucky when he was dropped at 68 by India Green skipper Suresh Raina, who took his eyes off the ball at the first slip. At that time, the score was 125/1 and India Red’s overall lead was 135 runs. 

Soon after, Mukund became the first batsman to score a first class century in a match played with a pink ball in India when he flicked away a Rajpoot delivery for a two in the midwicket area.  Chatterjee, too, reached the three-figure mark with back-to-back fours off Jalaj Saxena. 

Brief scores: India Red: 161 & 344/3 (Mukund 162*, Chatterjee 114); India Green: 151 (Raina 35; Kuldeep 3-26)