Duleep Trophy: Nikhil's century puts India Blue in command

DINDIGUL: India Blue's Nikhil Gangta (130, 7x4, 6x6) scored his 6th first-class century on Day 2 of the Duleep Trophy final against India Red to put the side in command at the NPR College ground here on Wednesday. Nikhil's 241-ball stay at the crease helped his side finish on 541. India Red, in reply, were 27 for 1 at close of play with Sanjay Ramaswamy (9 batting, 2x4) and B Sandeep (4 batting) at the crease.The side lost their skipper Abhinav Mukund (7, 1x4) who was clean-bowled by Dhawal Kulkarni (1-5).
It was a day when India Blue's lower-order came to the party and put their side in pole position. Nikhil, who started on his overnight score of 1, took little time to assert his supremacy. His first runs of the day arrived with a boundary over mid-off region in the bowling of Parvez Rasool (4-150). With the odd ball troubling the batsmen, Nikhil chose to remain watchful right through the course of his innings. He was assured with his footwork and used the depth of the crease to play the ball late. In the company of No.8 Swapnil Singh (69, 9x4, 2x6), Nikhil added 153 runs from 259 balls for the seventh wicket to swell the team's total. While Nikhil was the aggressor of the two, Swapnil was happy to play the second fiddle as the pair helped the side cross. Swapnil was dismissed after a leading edge was caught at covers by Sandeep in the bowling of Mihir Hirwani (3-190).
Nikhil got extra cautious during the nervous nineties as he needed 37 balls to progress from 90 to his three-figure mark. However, the 26-year-old from Himachal Pradesh was not the one to get bogged down on periods when runs were hard to come by, but made good use of the loose deliveries and reached a well-deserved hundred in 193 deliveries.
Despite losing Swapnil with the scoreboard reading 437-7, India Blue's No.9 Saurabh Kumar (36, 4x4, 1x6) pieced together a 70-run partnership with Nikhil for the eighth wicket. Saurabh, dropped on 0, 19 and on 36 by Ishan Kishan, Ishan Porel and Siddhesh Lad respectively, made full use of the reprieves before Sanjay Ramaswamy finally caught him at backward short-leg region off Mihir.
The day began with Ricky Bhui (60, 6x4) being clean-bowled by medium-pacer Ishan Porel (1-56) as India Blue's scorecard read 284 for 6. Ricky and Nikhil had stitched a 33-run stand for the sixth wicket. After Ricky was dismissed, the Nikhil-Swapnil pair took over and put India Blue on course to a big total.
Brief scores: India Blue 1st innings 541 (Nikhil Gangta 130, Anmolpreet 96, Swapnil Singh 69, Ricky Bhui 60; Rasool 4 for 150). India Red 1st innings 27 for 1 (Dhawal Kulkarni 1 for 5).