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India Red scores comprehensive win

G. Viswanath

Badrinath Vis Man-of-the-Match

— PHOTO: PTI

FINISH WITH A FLOURISH: S. Badrinath, who top-scored for India Red, ended the innings in style with a six over fine-leg.

Ahmedabad: His teammates left him high and dry, but Manoj Tiwary remained undaunted and continued to bat with resolve and purpose in a game of cricket in which even a trace of contest was absent when the UltraTech Challenger Trophy match between India Red and Green advanced past the twilight hours at Motera’s Sardar Patel Stadium here on Friday.

Tiwary struck eight firm and elegant boundaries before an on-side deflection terminated his 71-ball 65 knock. After his downfall India Green suffered a heavy defeat, with Praveen Kumar taking five wickets.

A bright prospect to emerge from Bengal last year, Tiwary is clearly keen to make the most of the opportunity and reassure the selectors that he is in good nick.

He started the season with a splendid century in the Irani Cup at Rajkot and on Friday night scored his first 50 off 54 balls. He was the only batsman to pack a punch after his team’s top order had fallen for paltry scores.

Excellent batting

Earlier, excellent batting by Gautam Gambhir and S. Badrinath helped India Red set a stiff target of 304 after Munaf Patel’s tiff with the match referee some 90 minutes before the start of the match drew everybody’s attention.

Munaf was seen having an animated conversation with B. Raghunath, the match referee, before the start of the match. It turned out that the former India bowler was not very happy with the official’s ruling that only the captain and the coach were allowed a look at the pitch before the playing XI was picked.

He was immediately led away from the square by officials of the Gujarat Cricket Association before the situation got out of hand. Mr. Raghunath — who is reported to have taken up the issue with the National selectors — quickly summoned India Green skipper Parthiv Patel, the coach Vijay Patel and other match officials to sort things out.

Poor spell

The disgruntled bowler was not quite up to the mark in the 10 overs he bowled in four spells. He was smashed for 15 runs in the first over, the promoted Praveen Kumar pummelling him for a four and six over long-on. His spell ended the way it had started. A full toss of the last ball of the 50th over saw S. Badrinath moving inside the line and using his wrists to send the ball flying over backward square-leg. Munaf Patel’s final analysis read a poor 10-0-81-1.

Things went well for India Red, which had lost to India Blue by 12 runs on Thursday. To start with, Gambhir played with controlled aggression to make almost a run-a-ball 73 with seven hits to the fence and thereafter Badrinath made a near flawless unbeaten 82 with seven fours and a six. India Green’s bowling resources was scarce, as a result of which the batsmen felt very comfortable on a slow pitch and posted the highest total in three innings.

India Red has now qualified for the final, as it received a bonus point for its comprehensive victory.

The scores:

India Red: Praveen Kumar c P. Patel b Pankaj Singh 15, G. Gambhir c Tiwary b Chawla 73, M. Kaif c P. Patel b Pankaj Singh 8, K. Goel b R. Sharma 32, S. Badrinath (not out) 82, V. Kohli st. P. Patel b Abdulla 40, Paresh Patel c Pathan b Abdulla 23, M. Rawat b M. Patel 13, S. Trivedi (not out) 1, Extras (lb-4, nb-1, w-11): 16, Total (for seven wkts. in 50 overs): 303.

Fall of wickets: 1-18, 2-62, 3-131, 4-139, 5-224, 6-268, 7-294.

Indian Green bowling: Munaf Patel 10-0-81-1, Pankaj Singh 8-2-37-2, Abhishek Nayar 2-0-13-0, Yusuf Pathan 10-0-41-0, Abdulla 10-0-54-2, R. Sharma 2-0-4-1, Chawla 8-0-69-1.

India Green: C. Pujara b Praveen Kumar 7, Y. Pathan b Praveen Kumar 0, P. Patel c Ojha b Trivedi 19, R. Sharma c Gambhir b Trivedi 11, M. Tiwary c Rawat b Praveen Kumar 65, N. Behera b Ojha 12, A. Nayar lbw b Sharma 29, P. Chawla c Goel b Kaif 26, I. Abdulla (not out) 12, Pankaj Singh b Praveen Kumar 25, Munaf Patel lbw b Praveen Kumar 0, Extras (lb-1, nb-1, w-7): 9, Total (in 47 overs) 215.

Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-28, 3-36, 4-67, 5-101, 6-135, 7-176,8-178, 9-215

India Red bowling: Praveen Kumar 9-0-45-5, Sharma 9-0-37-1, Trivedi 8-2-32-2, Ojha 10-0-41-1, Paresh Patel 4-0-22-0, Goel 3-0-14-0, Kaif 4-0-23-1.

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