The opening duo, who had put on an impressive partnership of 81 at the end of the first session, continued to run the opposition ragged after the Tea break to compile fifties, before the heavens opened up.
Earlier in the day, India Red captain Yuvraj Singh won the toss and opted to field, as he 'wanted to [make] use of the moisture' underneath the surface. However, Gambhir and Mayank summoned good defence, sprinkled with fine shots, to carve their way through the opening spells of Nathu Singh and Pradeep Sangwan. When either of them over-pitched or offered width, the pair collected boundaries.
Both of the batsmen could have been dislodged, but Sangwan dropped Gambhir off Nathu at fine leg. Nathu also induced a soft leading edge from Mayank, and he gleefully accepted the catch, but it turned out that the seamer had overstepped.
Gambhir and Mayank looked set to make India Red pay for their mistakes before a heavy downpour forced umpires to call stumps for the day. Persistent rain had left large puddles on the ground. The square and a major chunk of the outfield were covered by the groundsmen. As per the weather forecast, heavy rain is predicted for the rest of the match.
India Red are already on high ground, having won their first game against India Green comfortably by a margin of 219 runs. On the other hand, this is India Blue's first game of the tournament.
Brief Scores: India Blue 105/0 (Mayank Agarwal 53*, Gautam Gambhir 51*) vs India Red
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