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India Blue scrapes home

NAGPUR: Harbhajan Singh, briskly striding out to bat at No. 3, was one of the many surprises India Blue captain M.S. Dhoni sprung on counterpart S. Badrinath in the Challenger Series’ opening game here on Thursday.

The India off-spinner, upbeat after grabbing three wickets in stifling heat, mauled the India Red bowlers with some ferocious strokes under the lights.

Six powerful hits to the fence helped him make 36 off 36 balls before a faster one from Ravindra Jadeja beat him. Suresh Kumar, sent in bat ahead of Dhoni, marshalled the run-chase with a masterly 87 (113b, 7x4, 1x6).

India Blue won by one wicket with three balls to spare, overhauling India Red’s 248 with help from Ashok Dinda in the 50th over.

Jadeja had earlier plucked a stunning catch at point to dismiss Kedar Jadhav, stretching when airborne to grab the looping ball with his left hand.

M. Vijay at long-off and R. Ashwin at sweeper point brought off steep catches under the lights to send back Yusuf Pathan and Dhoni.

The scores: India Red: 248 in 44.4 overs.

India Blue: N. Ojha c Jaggi b Ishant 8, W. Jaffer c Dhawan b Tyagi 27, Harbhajan b Jadeja 36, K. Jadhav c Jadeja b Ishant 1, S. Kumar c Jadeja b Ishant 87, M.S. Dhoni c Ashwin b Ishant 37, J. Saxena c Khadiwale b Ashwin 15, Y. Pathan c Vijay b Jadeja 15, S. Sreesanth b Munaf 0, A. Dinda (not out) 8, S. Trivedi (not out) 4; Extras (b-4, lb-5, nb-1, w-2): 12. Total (for 9 wkts in 49.3 overs): 250.

Fall of wickets: 1-31, 2-48, 3-49, 4-106, 5-161, 6-192, 7-226, 8-237, 9-237.

India Red bowling: Munaf 9.3-0-58-1, Tyagi 8-0-49-1, Ishant 10-1-56-4, Jadeja 10-0-36-2, Ashwin 10-2-33-1, Badrinath 2-0-9-0. — Nandakumar Marar

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