Kuldeep's four help India Red rally after rain delay

After two-thirds of play was rendered impossible by the weather for the second day in succession, Kuldeep Yadav ate into India Blue's gains with a four-wicket burst late in the night. India Blue went from 188 for 1 to 200 for 5 in four overs, as Kuldeep unleashed a rash of googlies that bored into India Blue's batting core.

Should Mayank Agarwal nurse heartaches over his dismissal, it wouldn't be out of place: he ventured an inexplicable slog to be stumped after coming within a whisker of his second first-class hundred. The dismissal proved to be costlier than he might have anticipated on a day India Blue had to negotiate a mere 27.4 overs.

From the outset, this was a curious day where little of the expected unfolded. With rain in the air, and after the pitch had sweated under the covers for over 24 hours - the grass on the pitch appeared markedly lusher - it was thought the ball would move around crazily. On the evidence of the first few overs, it also seemed that India Red's wretched luck would continue - they had handed India Blue captain Gautam Gambhir and Agarwal a reprieve each on Monday, and were still atoning for them.

The second ball of the day, from left-arm seamer Pradeep Sangwan, caught Gambhir's outside edge and flew just wide of second slip. On the first ball of the next over, Ishwar Pandey struck Agarwal, who shouldered arms with pad thrust forward, on the back leg, but umpire Virender Sharma made a brave not-out call.

Meanwhile, Gambhir continued to slash, steer and edge boundaries behind square. India Red captain Yuvraj Singh even installed an extra slip, but he never came into play. India Blue had scored 40 runs in the first 10.4 overs, and there was neither any mad swing nor significant seam movement.

The first spark of action was provided by Nathu Singh, who was evidently quicker than Sangwan and Pandey. He decided to take the pitch and the atmosphere out of the equation, and beat Gambhir with sheer pace: the ball whooshed off a length and crashed into Gambhir's pad before his bat came around it. While Nathu was looking to blast the batsmen out, in came Kuldeep with his wristy, drifting offerings. After a quiet period, three deliveries changed the course of India Blue's innings.

Agarwal charged out to biff the first ball of the 56th over on the full for a six over the bowler's head. The next ball was flatter and skidded past the batsman's attempted cut, before Kuldeep offered a loopy googly. Agarwal dashed out again for a slog across the line, but this time the ball dipped and swerved past him for Srikar Bharat to complete a stumping. The Kuldeep-Bharat combine came together again in the bowler's next over when Suryakumar Yadav was stumped in an attempted flick. Next ball, nightwatchman Karn Sharma was walking back after being trapped lbw, again by a googly.

B Aparajith was, in contrast, untroubled by Kuldeep's googlies, but edged a drive to gully, where Nitish Rana snapped up a smart, low catch, only two overs later. Till about half an hour earlier, India Red were probably bracing for a long haul in the field. But, like in the first game, it took Kuldeep only a few minutes to make a difference.