Jadeja's 10 in match gives India Blue title

After having been set an improbable target of 517 with two-and-a-half sessions to go on the fifth day of the Duleep Trophy final, India Red's batsmen played a series of poor shots to fall well short of the far more achievable goal of batting out time for a draw. They subsided for 161 to hand India Blue a crushing 355-run victory and, with it, the Duleep Trophy.

Ravindra Jadeja took five wickets to add to his five in the first innings, and Karn Sharma chipped in with three, but India Red's biggest nemesis was their own indiscretion. For a majority of their innings, they seemed content to swing with abandon on a wearing pitch that merited a far more calibrated approach.

There was sharper turn than on the previous four days, but it remained slow turn and was far from unplayable. However, as Jadeja, Karn and Parvez Rasool warmed into their respective spells, and began putting balls in line with the stumps they became increasingly difficult to play.

As India Red sunk deeper into a hole largely of their own creation, the India Blue spinners began to enjoy themselves, taking wickets with some liberally tossed up deliveries. Jadeja's ball to dismiss Amit Mishra - the sixth wicket of the innings and fourth in six overs - had just the right amount of flight, turn and bounce to pick up a healthy outside edge on its way to Cheteshwar Pujara at first slip.

Not long later, Karn drew Ankush Bains into an extravagant drive, which he only managed to nick to wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik and Sangwan played onto his stumps the next ball. It was Jadeja who took the wicket that sealed the victory, with 43.5 overs left before the scheduled close of play, when he trapped Nathu Singh plumb in front.

The day had begun with India Blue pushing their lead past 500, which was followed by Pankaj Singh bowling another venomous first spell that had India Red's top-order batsmen in a lot of trouble. His second delivery cut into the left-handed Abhinav Mukund to hit him on the back pad in front of the stumps, but the umpire turned down the lbw appeal. Though he was batting out of his crease, he was lucky to get away with it. Abhinav was struck on his right shoulder in that same over, off a ball that reared off a length, and though he initially tried to bat on, he had to eventually leave the field for treatment and did not return.

Pankaj then induced an outside edge off Dhawan, batting on 11, but Karthik could not hold on to the catch diving to his left. Despite the skill with Pankaj bowled, his five overs could not produce a wicket. They fell to the spinners instead. Chatterjee top-edged an attempted sweep off Jadeja and Dhawan finally succumbed to Rasool's probing line when he nicked to first slip where Gautam Gambhir took an excellent diving catch.

India Red went into tea at 49 for 2. Upon resumption, their demise was swift. Yuvraj Singh perished to a top-edged sweep off Jadeja that went straight to deep midwicket. Binny, having earlier been caught off a no-ball, gifted his wicket away when he went for - and missed - a full-blooded sweep to a Jadeja delivery that pitched on middle-and-off and straightened. Gurkeerat was stumped attempting an ambitious inside-out drive off Karn. By this stage, the India Blue spinners were humming along and, with Jadeja's dismissal of Mishra, the end was very near.

In the wake of India Blue's 355-run victory, Pujara and Jadeja, with an unbeaten double-century and a 10-wicket haul respectively, would have many good memories to take with them into the home Test series against New Zealand later this month. Dhawan and Mishra, with only 58 runs and three wickets respectively, might be less upbeat.