Greater Noida, Sep 13 (CRICKETNMORE): Inching closer to lifting the Duleep Trophy, India Blue took a virtually unassailable lead of 476 runs against India Red on a rain-truncated penultimate day of the tournament final at the Greater Noida Sports Complex Ground here on Tuesday.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Play was marred due to rain with two stoppages halting play. Karnataka batsman Mayank Agarwal scored a fifty and skipper Gautam Gambhir scored a fluent 36 as India Blue reached 139\/3 at stumps. Chinaman Kuldeep Yadav snared two wickets. Jadeja's fifer takes India Blue closer to Duleep Trophy title.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\r\n\r\n India test regulars Rohit Sharma and all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja were at the crease on 22 and 3 respectively.<\/p>\r\n\r\n Resuming at the overnight total of 1\/0, India Blue got off to a steady start with Gambhir and Agarwal stitching a 67-run partnership.<\/p>\r\n\r\n Gambhir wasted little time to stretch the lead by punching Pradeep Sangwan through cover and point for the first runs of the evening. The 34-year old gave little leeway to Nathu Singh in the next over, clipping a full length delivery to the deep mid-wicket fence.<\/p>\r\n\r\n Nathu did not have a good time bowling to Gambhir as the seasoned campaigner carted him for two more boundaries in the sixth over of the evening.<\/p>\r\n\r\n Just as India Blue looked to be cruising smoothly, at 33\/0 in six overs, there was another stoppage in play, this time for an hour and fifteen minutes. Gambhir looked good for a long innings after play restarted, but departed to the delight of India Red.<\/p>\r\n\r\n The dashing Delhi opener, though not happy with the decision, was drawn forward by a nicely tossed up delivery by Kuldeep forcing the southpaw to miss his front foot defence and let the ball spin away to hit him in front of the stumps.<\/p>\r\n\r\n