“My plan with (Gautam) Gambhir was very simple; that we bat the opposition out of the tournament, not (just) off this game,” said India Blue coach Aashish Kapoor after his team had piled up 707 runs in the first innings after opting to bat in their Duleep Trophy match against India Green.
In the first of its kind first-class tournament in India being played under the lights with the pink ball, the two teams are battling for a place in the final against India Red. While India Green lost their opening fixture to India Red, India Blue’s rain truncated game against India Red ended with both teams receiving a point each.
Explaining the circumstances and the team’s strategy, Kapoor said, “We already have a point, they (India Green) don’t have any, so even if this match goes unfinished we still end up getting a point each. Hence we get another point and we get into the finals. Our aim was to get into the finals first, get safe. We won the toss (so) half the job was done on this wicket. The other half was execution i.e. to bat well for at least two to two-and-a-half days. Actually we have batted half a day less than what we had expected. We wanted to bat for about two-and-half days and put them out of the match because the pressure is on them. They are on zero point, so they need to get three points to get through.”
In line with the strategy, the batsmen executed the plans almost to the T. After the skipper was involved in a 212-run record opening stand with Mayank Agarwal on the first day, Cheteshwar Pujara ensured that they built on it.
Speaking about Pujara, who anchored the innings after coming in to bat at No 3 to post 166, the coach said, “The plan was very simple that Pujara gets a big knock. We know what kind of knocks he is capable of. A big knock for him doesn’t mean 150 or 170, it means the 250s 300s that he gets. So that’s what I had spoken to him about, that it’s been a long time since he has got one such knock (and) it will be good for him (as well). He was on the way but then unfortunately got out.”
Asked about the solid top-order batsman’s preparation, Kapoor said, “He (does) his normal routine. (He does) Not get overawed by the occasion. He is not under pressure or anything. He would normally prepare (like) each individual (does). Each person prepares in a different way. He wasn’t too stressed. He was talking with us when he was padded up, also because there was a huge innings going on for the opening partnership (and also) so concentrating at the same time. Then he went in and played that knock.”
While Pujara tipped the balance in India Blue’s favour, Sheldon Jackson’s century helped put the team in the driver’s seat. The lower middle-order batsman’s effortless 105-run knock came off just 114 balls. Asked about the team’s brief to the batsman, the coach said, “It was to play as long as possible.”
Discussing Sheldon’s knock, he further added, “Each one has a different game, someone plays attacking someone a little slow. Sheldon’s game is such that he is an attacking player and that’s the way he went and played. He was pretty confident even in the game one where he got about 48 not out he was batting well and you could see that. He has been playing in the league in Chennai and matches elsewhere. He has got a triple-hundred (In the Tamil Nadu first-division league season, he scored 303 for Globe Trotters Club against United Friends Cricket Club in a four-day match) recently so he has been in good form.”
With a high total on the board, India Blue are comfortably poised at the end of second day’s play of the four-day game while India Green have a tough ask facing them.
