Cricbuzz Staff • Last updated on Sun, 26 Aug, 2018, 09:28 PM

Shahbaz Nadeem and Parvez Rasool hit the panic button in the India Blue camp to put India Red on the brink of a win on the final day on Sunday (August 26) at the NPR College Ground in Dindigul. The ninth-wicket pair of Dhawal Kulkarni and Bandaru Ayyappa offered resistance for almost nine overs before the Abhinav Mukund-led side decided to settle for a draw. The three points gained via a first-innings lead were good enough to take them into the final of the Duleep Trophy.

While Blue would not have entertained any thoughts of chasing down 279 in just two sessions of play, the solid start between their openers meant that the game was headed towards nothing but a tame draw.

However, in a manic twist of the tale, after a 76-run stand for the opening wicket that was broken by Rasool, Blue suffered one of the most incredible collapses; from 92 for 1 to 110 for 8. Blue lost seven wickets in exactly 10 overs' time with the offspinner, Rasool, bagging three wickets and the left-arm orthodox picking up a five-fer.

Earlier in the day, Red too suffered a collapse of their own. Having started the day on 156 for 3, the overnight batsmen - Siddhesh Lad and Akshay Wadkar - added only 32 more runs to the tally. With both the batsmen departing with the scoreboard reading 198, Red went on to slip further as they lost two more wickets on 200, another two wickets for the addition of seven runs before Abhimanyu Mithun - batting at No. 8 - scored a rearguard 47 to stretch the team's total to 255, ensuring a lead of 278 runs.

From a point of no hope to coming close to a dramatic win, India Red eventually ended two wickets shy. They bagged three points while Blue managed just the one.

This leaves India Blue and India Green to fight it out for a spot in the final, with their contest slated to begin on August 29.

Brief Scores: India Red 316 (Siddhesh Lad 88; Saurabh Kumar 3-75, Akshay Wakhare 3-76) & 255 (Siddhesh Lad 68; Saurabh Kumar 4-79) drew with India Blue 293 (Dhruv Shorey 97; Parvez Rasool 4-107) and 128/8 (Shahbaz Nadeem 5-53, Parvez Rasool 3-59).