A file image of Karun Nair
Karun Nair continued his impressive form, hitting an unbeaten 77 as India Red reached 140 for 2 in their first innings in reply to India Green's 440 all out at stumps on day two of the Duleep Trophy match here on Friday.
Karun, who had scored 99 and 166 not out in the previous game against India Blue, picked up 14 fours during his enterprising knock. The other opener Abhimanyu Easwaran was retired hurt.
India Red still trail India Green by 300 runs.
Earlier, off-spinner Akshay Wakhare (5/103) took five wickets as India Red dismissed India Green for 440 in 131.3 overs.
Karun, who joined captain Priyank Panchal after Easwaran retired hurt (on 3, 22 balls), was on the look out for runs from the word go, continuing his good form from the previous match.
He added 43 runs with Mahipal Lomor (22 batting, 51 balls, 3 fours, 1 six).
Earlier, resuming at 308 for 4, overnight batsmen Priyam Garg (53, 90 balls, 4 fours, 1 six) and 'keeper Akshay Wadkar (44, 107 balls, 4 fours) negotiated the first 30 minutes of play rather easily and kept the scoreboard ticking.
Garg fell soon after reaching his fifty, dismissed by Aditya Sarwate.
Dharmendrasinh Jadeja (37, 54 balls, 5 fours), who joined Wadkar in the middle, played aggressively and quickly raised 51 runs for the sixth wicket.
However, he was dismissed by Wakhare for his second wicket, caught by Panchal.
The 'Green' innings fell apart after Jadeja's dismissal as Vidarbha spinner Akshay Wakhare picked up two wickets while Kerala paceman Sandeep Warrier got into the act, accounting for Rahul Chahar (1) caught behind by K S Bharat and Ankit Rajpoot (0) bowled.
Wakhare dismissed Ishan Porel to end the 'Green' first innings at 440 and complete his five-wicket haul.
Brief scores (at end of day 2): India Green: 440 all out in 131.3 overs (Akshath Reddy 146, Siddhesh Lad 64, Dharmendrasinh Jadeja 37, Priyam Garg 53, Dhruv Shorey 44; Akshay Wakhare 5/103, Avesh Khan 2/63, Sandeep Warrier 2/74) vs India Red 140 for 2 in 45 overs (Karun Nair 77 batting, Priyank Panchal 31, Dharmendrasinh Jadeja 2/36).
