Avesh hits maiden 50, Reds vs Greens in final

Bengaluru, September 1 

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Avesh Khan hogged the limelight with his maiden First-Class half-century in an incredible rearguard action as India Red and India Green drew their Duleep Trophy match, setting up a repeat clash in the final of the tournament.

The day belonged to Khan, who produced a 56-ball 64 in a last-wicket stand of 73 runs with Sandeep Warrier (5 off 40 balls) to lead the Reds to 441 all out, for a slender one-run lead. Replying to India Green’s total of 440, India Red resumed the day’s proceedings at a precarious 404/9. They managed to take the lead due to Khan’s efforts. It was a remarkable turnaround for India Red, who had been reduced to 368/9 at one stage yesterday.

After today’s draw, India Green were tied with the third team, India Blue, on two points each. However, India Green advanced to the final on the basis of a better net run-rate, 0.057 against India Blue’s 0.028. India Red took the top spot with six points. Khan, who had hit five sixes on Saturday, added two more to his kitty today, dashing Indian Green’s hopes of taking the lead and three points. He was finally caught by wicketkeeper Akshay Wadkar to give Ankit Rajpoot his third wicket. In the second innings, India Red crawled to 98/3 in 54 overs before play was called off. 

Brief Scores: India Green: 440 and 98/3 in 54 overs (Dhruv Shorey 44*); India Red: 441 all out in 145.3 overs — PTI