Duleep Trophy: Shorey's 93 gives India Blue the advantage

Delhi top-order batsman Dhruv Shorey missed out on yet another well-deserved century but his innings of 93 helped India Blue keep their noses in front at the end of day two in the final league match of the Duleep Trophy at the NPR College ground in Dindigul.

Delhi top-order batsman Dhruv Shorey missed out on yet another well-deserved century but his innings of 93 helped India Blue keep their noses in front at the end of day two in the final league match of the Duleep Trophy at the NPR College ground in Dindigul.

Shorey, who had scored 97 in the previous match, fell to Atith Seth for 93, missing out on his century but his inning helped Blues to reach 340 in their first innings.

In reply, India Green opener Priyank Panchal and Sudip Chatterjee were dismissed without scoring as the team slumped to 9 for 2 in the seventh over.

Prashant Chopra (80) and Baba Indrajith (35) came to the team's rescue as they added 89 runs in a little over 35 overs.

Chopra hit 10 boundaries in his knock while Indrajith, who made a century earlier in the tournament, proved the ideal foil to Chopra and helped India Green rebuild.

Tamil Nadu medium-pacer K Vignesh underlined his potential, picking up a five-wicket haul, which was instrumental in India Blue being restricted to 340.

The Faiz Fazal-led team looked set for a big score at 303 for 4 but the exit of Shorey (93, 8X4, 2X6) triggered a collapse as six wickets fell in the space of 37 runs.

Vignesh took four of the last six wickets to finish with figures of 5 for 50 from 25.1 overs.

Four batsmen made half-centuries for India Blue but a late collapse proved their undoing as the two sides battle for a place in the final, starting September 4.