It was a sad end to India Green's run in the Duleep Trophy as their four-day match against India Blue ended in a watery draw as rains washed out the last three days
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It was a sad end to India Green's run in the Duleep Trophy as their four-day match against India Blue ended in a watery draw as rains washed out the last three days.
No luck of the Green
Parthiv Patel-led Green required an outright win in order to pip their rivals to the berth in the final. They had made a great start getting rid of their rivals for just 177 and themselves were well placed at 100 for three. They seemed to hold the edge, but after the opening day, the elements just did not relent for them to make any headway. The Suresh Raina-led Blue can consider them lucky after they could bat just two sessions and were always going to struggle to save the game. Now, they happily travel to Lucknow to take on India Red in the final from Monday.
It has been raining in Lucknow too which is barely 80 km from Kanpur and unless the rain relents by the weekend, the final too may also be affected by the monsoon, which is yet to recede completely. When the schedule of the Duleep Trophy was announced as late as in the first week of September, it was well known that rains could have a major say, and so it proved.
Luckily the first match in Lucknow was not affected by the elements and Green went on to defeat Red.
Rain-ruined ties
It were the two matches here in Kanpur that were hit by rains. In the first one, third day's play was totally washed out and the current match play was possible only on the opening day. If at all the Duleep Trophy survives the axe next season, the BCCI officials will have to ensure that it is not scheduled in the north when the monsoon is still active.
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