India Blue qualified for the Duleep Trophy 2016-17 final on the basis of a first innings lead in the drawn match against India Green. The Gautam Gambhir-led team will take on Yuvraj Singh’s India Red in the match for the trophy to be played from September 10 to 14 in Greater Noida under lights with the pink ball. With the result a foregone conclusion, after having seized a big first innings lead, India Blue continued to add to the total after resuming their second innings on 85 without loss on the fourth afternoon. They were eventually bowled out by the India Green spinners for 298 thus setting the opposition a 769-run target. While Sheldon Jackson remained unbeaten on 79, India Green’s Shreyas Gopal claimed four-for taking his tally to 14 wickets in the tournament while Pragyan Ojha took three and Jalaj Saxena picked two. Having set India Green an insurmountable target and the match heading for a draw, Pankaj Singh claimed Saxena in the third over of the innings. Murali Vijay and Robin Uthappa then took the team to dinner on 49 for one. Vijay and Uthappa both posted half-centuries in the final session of the day. As the match approached the close of play, Karn Sharma first accounted for the No 3 batsman and a while later, sent back the opener for 73. In the following over Parthiv Patel was trapped lbw by Parvez Rasool. When play was called off later in the day India Green were 179 for the loss of four wickets. Earlier, Mayank Agarwal and Gambhir posted a third successive century opening stand on the fourth afternoon. The India Blue openers posted their half-centuries before Saxena accounted for them in successive overs. Siddhesh Lad, who then joined Cheteshwar Pujara at the crease was bounced by Ashoke Dinda. The ball took the glove and Vijay took a low forward diving catch with India Blue on 126 for three. After adding 54 runs for the fourth wicket with Dinesh Karthik, the No 3 bat was the next to return to the pavilion for 31. At the stroke of Tea, Shreyas accounted for the wicketkeeper-batsman leaving India Blue on 226 for five. With a mammoth 696-run lead, Sheldon resumed the innings with Rasool in the second session. The all-rounder however was sent back for nought by Shreyas, and in the next over Karn hit the ball back to Pragyan, who took a comfortable return catch. Abhimanyu Mithun offered a simple catch to Saurabh Tiwary at silly point off Shreyas and followed him back to the pavilion. While wickets were crumbling at one end, Sheldon was clobbering the attack from the other. He first dismissed Pragyan over long-off, and then hit him straight for another six. He then lofted Shreyas over midwicket to reach his fifty and continued to bludgeon attack. Mohit Sharma at the other end however was caught towards mid-on after attempting to slog Pragyan. A few overs later, Shreyas castled the lower-order bat to wrap up the India Blue innings. While Sheldon was taking the attack to the bowlers, his partner- Pankaj Singh’s hit towards mid-on struck Pragyan at the back of his head. The ball bounced in front of the fielder and as he turned in reflex action, the ball hit the back of his head and had to be carried off the field on a stretcher for further medical attention. He was taken to the hospital and medical examination reports were fine. The bowler was soon discharged and had returned to the stadium when play was called off. Match result: Drawn. India Blue qualify for final on basis of first innings lead Brief scores: Day 1 - India Blue 1st inn 336/3 in 90 overs (M Agarwal 161, G Gambhir 90, C Pujara 63*, A Dinda 1/54, J Bumrah 1/61) Day 2 – India Blue 1st inn 707/10 in 176.3 overs (C Pujara 166, S Jackson 105, K Sharma 57, S Gopal 5/173) Day 3 – India Green 1st inn 237/10 in 61 overs (P Patel 55, S Raina 52, A Mithun 3/16, K Sharma 3/74) India Blue 2nd inn 85/0 in 26 overs (M Agarwal 49*, G Gambhir 36*) Day 4 – India Blue 2nd inn 298/10 in 66.2 overs (S Jackson 79*, G Gambhir 59, M Agarwal 58, D Karthik 57, S Gopal 4/53); India Green 2nd inn 179/4 in 34 overs (M Vijay 73, R Uthappa 66, K Sharma 2/68)