Hooda ton helps India Blue secure lead in dull draw

A counter-attacking sixth-wicket partnership of 98 by Deepak Hooda and Jaydev Unadkat helped India Blue secure the first innings lead, before getting bowled out for 444 runs. Call it poor decision making or a mistake in hindsight, Dinesh Karthik's decision to not use the services of his spinners Karn Sharma and Vijay Gohil, when the duo was taking the game away from them, proved costly.

Unadkat was promoted ahead of Bhargav Bhatt and Akshay Wakhare, a move which paid off in hindsight, to No. 7. Following wickets of Hanuma Vihari and Ishan Kishan in quick succession, Hooda had resorted to caution for a brief while. But once Unadkat's counter-attacking batting began to pay off, with the required runs getting wiped off quickly, Hooda too went back to his aggressive ways with the bat. In only 101 balls of their partnership at the crease, they added 98 runs, and in the process helped their side secure the first innings lead.

The pace trio of CV Milind, Basil Thampi and Siddarth Kaul didn't bowl too badly, but what was surprising to see was the the spin duo of Karn and Gohil were largely non-operational when the game was slipping away from India Red's grasp. They were brought back into the attack only after India Blue had secured the lead, and soon enough the duo dismissed both Hooda and Unadkat in quick succession.

While Hooda edged a slider from Gohil to the wicketkeeper, four balls later Unadkat top edged a sweep off Karn for Rishabh Pant to take an easy catch. Having already secured the lead, the tailenders entertained the gallery with their slogs and added 46 runs for the last five wickets. Karn, who had taken only a solitary wicket in his first 18 overs, returned to take four more in his last spell of seven overs, and finished with his second fifer in the last two innings.

Resuming the