Thu, 13 Oct 2011 - India Green vs India Red, Challenger Trophy 2011-12, Final Match - Bulletin

Honours shared in challenger final

India Red and India Green had to share points in NK Salve Challenger Trophy final after the summit clash ended in tie. Piyush Chawla, the batsman, lit up the stage hitting a 85-ball 92 to fight valiantly for India Red but was last man to run out to have scores tied. Chawla, who was the best batsman for India Red in reply to Green’s 238, needed 17 in the last over to see his side through. He scored fifteen off first five balls bowled Samad Fallah but was run-out while trying to take a bye off a wide delivery.

Abhimanyu Mithun got India Red skipper Shekhar Dhawan early in the chase of 239 before Ambati Rayudu and Abhinav Mukund scored quick 41 for the second wicket. Mukund was fluent of the two hitting seven fours in his 31-ball 37 and was first to depart stumped off Harbhajan. Yusuf Pathan didn’t do much with the bat dismissed by Mithun for 8 before Harbhajan got into act.

The Green skipper removed Rayudu for 25 and young Ashok Menaria for 21 as India Red’s chase stuttered in the middle overs. Iqbal Abdulla was also impressive getting wicket of W Saha as Chawla kept the fight going.The left hander hot boundaries regularly to stop asking rate from going out of reach but his partners succumbed to the pressure losing their wickets at crucial junctures.

Mithun ended Sudhindra’s supporting act to Chawla before Abdulla begged wickets of Pankaj Singh and Bhargav Bhatt at the fag end of the chase. Iqbal ended with figures of 3 for 38 in his ten over quota and Mithun too had excellent figures of 3 for 42. The India Green skipper backed his crucial unbeaten 49 with a terrific bowling performance taking 3 for 37.

India Green batting effort saw them lose wickets regularly till 40th over before Harbhajan played a crucial knock to boost score past 235. Majority of the batsmen got starts but failed to kick on that dented their progress. Besides Harbhajan , Mohammad Kaif with 41 and opener Srinkanth Anirudha scoring 39 were major contributors.

Left arm pacer Jaidev Udankat removes last match centurion Robin Uthappa and number three Ishan Jaggi upfront to reduce Green 41 for 2. Anirudha hit some cracking shots combining with Kaif to add 34 for the third wicket. TP Sudhindra gave his side a breakthrough removing Anirudha for 41-ball 39 including seven fours.

Kaif, who was slow to start off his innings, involved with T Suman for inning’s highest partnership as duo put on 59. The pair not only steadied the ship but kept scoreboard ticking over. The moment it looked Green side was in charge of proceedings, both went in a quick succession. Suman was caught and bowled by Pathan for 29 and Kaif was trapped leg before the stumps by Pankaj Singh for 41 off 67 balls.

Things got worse with Sudhindra removing C Gautam to have Green reeling at 151 for 6. Harbhajan showed his experience and made sure his team bats all of fifty overs and post a respectable score on the board. He hit three fours and a six in his 54-ball 49 and found able partners in S Narwal and Iqbal Abdulla who scored 18 each at the back end of the innings.

For India Red, Udankat, Sudhindra and Pankaj claimed two wickets each.