Pujara ton leaves India Blue in command

After India Blue opted to bat first on a dry and cracked Greater Noida surface, Cheteshwar Pujara's fluent unbeaten 111 and Gautam Gambhir's well-compiled 94 studded a dominant batting display over an India Red attack that lacked penetration and consistency.

Gambhir, who registered his fourth consecutive fifty-plus score of the tournament, also brought up his fourth consecutive century opening stand with Mayank Agarwal, who scored 57 in a knock laced with fluent cover drives. Pujara, coming off an innings of 166 against India Green, built on that base, scoring at a strike rate of 67.68 against a tiring and deflated bowling attack.

India Blue made hay after the sun went down, plundering 151 runs in the third session for the sole loss of Rohit Sharma. Pujara and Dinesh Karthik made the bulk of those runs in an unbroken fourth-wicket stand of 120 off 23.3 overs, which thoroughly entertained the sizeable crowd and took India Blue to an imposing 362 for 3 by stumps.

If winning the toss was a slice of luck for India Blue, their openers benefited from a few more fortunate moments during their 144-run stand. Left-arm wristspinner Kuldeep Yadav, introduced in the 15th over, produced a chance with his first ball when Gambhir defended a good-length delivery to silly point, who couldn't hold on to a low catch. A little later, Kuldeep beat a charging Agarwal but wicketkeeper Ankush Bains failed to collect the ball cleanly to complete the stumping.

It was ultimately Stuart Binny who broke the partnership, shortly after tea, just when the batsmen looked set to bed in for the second session. Bowling cross-seam, Binny got the first ball of his spell to stop on Agarwal from a good length. Agarwal went through with his drive, playing well in front of his body, managing only to chip the ball to short extra-cover.

But India Red's respite was brief, as Pujara strode in and ensured continuity in the batting side's dominance and the bowling side's largely fruitless toil. He took nine balls to get off the mark, but when it happened it was worth the wait. Skipping to the pitch of a Kuldeep delivery, he drove it sweetly down the ground for four, to the right of a diving wide mid-off.

That was the start of an assured, chanceless knock marked by steady accumulation, solid defence and some dazzling strokes too. The loss of Gambhir and Rohit Sharma at the other end did not in the least deter his determined, inexorable progress.

Pujara showed a penchant for bringing up milestones with boundaries. A cover drive off Mishra brought up his 10,000th run in first-class cricket. A pull through midwicket, off Mishra once again, gave him his fifty. And an expansive extra-cover drive off Stuart Binny took him to his 33rd first-class century as the day drew to a close. In between, he played a number of gorgeous cuts, pulls and back-foot punches, simply because he could.

That he could was down not just to his form and ability, but also to the inability of India Red's bowlers to consistently ask questions of the batsmen's technique. Opening bowlers Pradeep Sangwan and Nathu Singh bowled short of a length and could not generate much swing or seam movement in unhelpful conditions. Mishra and Kuldeep extracted sharp turn and gave the batsmen a few awkward moments, but repeatedly released the pressure with loose balls.

Mishra, in particular, struggled to achieve much control, frequently losing his line and length. Half-trackers, full tosses and wide deliveries peppered his spells.

While remaining wayward in the third session, Mishra managed to slip in a few good deliveries. Shortly after the dinner break, he beat Pujara's outside edge twice with flighted, dipping legbreaks, and induced a skied outside-edge off a Rohit swipe, only for the ball to fall outside the reach of the cover fielder running back.

In Mishra's next over, Rohit attempted another wild swipe across the line, off a good-length legbreak, and this time the mis-hit went straight up and was comfortably pouched by Shikhar Dhawan at cover.

The three deliveries Mishra bowled immediately after taking that wicket neatly encapsulated the day he was having. A half-volley outside off was driven through the covers for four to get Karthik off the mark. A good follow-up delivery induced an inside-edge to short leg but the tough chance was not taken. Then a rank half-tracker was pulled disdainfully through midwicket for another four. The four-ball felt almost inevitable.