For Tamil Nadu’s Abhinav Mukund the pink ball has posed no challenge whatsoever. He was the leading run-scorer for India Red in the first innings, scoring 77 and taking his team to a total of 161 before being bundled out. On Wednesday, Mukund hit an unbeaten 162 to give his team a lead of 354 runs on day two of the Duleep Trophy match against India Green, being played at Greater Noida.
However, Mukund wasn’t alone. With him was Sudip Chatterjee, who hit an exquisite 114. The duo stitched a brilliant 240-run partnership after India Green were bowled out for 151. India Red opener Srikar Bharat was bowled by Ankit Rajpoot for 20 before Chatterjee came to the crease to join Mukund. The duo played themselves in before taking on the bowling. Sandeep Sharma, who had taken four wickets for India Green on Tuesday, finished the night with 0/53 in 13 overs.
Things were going smoothly for India Red, but Chatterjee fell to Shreyas Gopal, who got the Bengali batsman leg-before. In walked captain Yuvraj Singh, but his bad run continued as he was caught and bowled by Jalaj Saxena for 10. However, Mukund was the hero of the day/night, who remained unbeaten on 162. With him was Gurkeerat Singh Maan batting on 28. After 17 wickets fell on the first day, only six had fallen on the second. Nathu Singh grabbed six wickets for India Red and helped bowl India Green out for 151.
Brief scores:
India Red 161 and 344/3 (Abhinav Mukund 162*, Sudip Chatterjee 114) lead India Green 151 (Saurabh Tiwary 50, Nathu Singh 6/53) by 354 runs with seven wickets in hand.