Gambhir, Badrinath sail Reds into final

Oct 26: Praveen’s spell of 5/45 helped India Red to earn a bonus point and place in final

India red came back strongly, after losing their opening encounter against India blue to seal a place in the final, as first Gautam Gambhir and S Badrinath elegant knocks and later Praveen Kumar’s five-wicket haul guided their team to pull off a 88-run victory over India Green in the Challenger Trophy played at the Sardar Patel stadium in Motera here on Friday.

Fine half-centuries struck by Gautam Gambhir (73) and Subramaniam Badrinath unbeaten 82 helped India Red to post an imposing total of 303 for the loss of 7 wickets in their stipulated overs. India Red won the match with a bonus point and has already qualified for the finals with 5 points.

India Green will meet India Blue later in the day to decide the other finalist. If India Blue wins today’s encounter, they will qualify otherwise it will come down to the net run rate.

After getting out early in the previous match, Gambhir began cautiously and started slowly to attack the bowlers He played a breezy knock of 73 of just 74 balls. Gambhir played shots on all sides of the park to work out his seven boundaries. But by the time he cruising towards his century, he went for an extravagant shot, which brought an end to his knock.

He became the victim of Piyush Chawla’s delivery, while trying to clear the fence over mid-wicket guiding the ball straight to Manoj Tiwary. But by then he had guaranteed a respectable total for his team and already added 70 runs with Karan Goel (33) the third wicket.

Badrinath, who batted at No. 5, seemed to be in good touch yesterday also. He was middling the ball right from the start and carried on the momentum given by Gambhir.

The Tamil Nadu southpaw took 62 deliveries to complete his half-century. Initially Badrinath was playing second fiddle to the attacking Virat Kohli (40 off 45 balls).

The duo added on 85 runs for the fifth wicket before Delhi batsman stumped by Parthiv Patel off Iqbal Abdulla. Kohli in his little cameo hit two huge sixes and a boundary. Later Paresh Patel played a flashy knock of 12-ball 22 to give thrust to the scoring rate.

For India Green, Abdulla and Pankaj Singh picked up two wickets apiece, while Munaf Patel, who is keenly watched by the selectors, was the most expensive bowler. He ended up with a figure of 10-0-81-1, costing 15 runs in his first over as pinch hitter Praveen Kumar hit him for a four and a six.

Chasing the stiff target, India Green team never looked in contention as they lost wickets at regular intervals while the required run-rate kept mounting.

India Green had a devastating start. They lost their first wicket at the score of six as Yusuf Pathan went for duck and by the time total reached to 36 two more had gone. They were Cheteshwar Pujara (7) and Parthiv Patel (19), who has been in marvelous form off late.

The Greens also lost Rohit Sharma as soon as the team’s total crossed fifty run mark. Only Bengal’s Manoj Tiwary provided some resistance with a firm knock of 65 runs but didn’t get much of support from the other end.

Tiwary hit eight boundaries in his 71 ball innings. Praveen Kumar got him out, who was again the demolishing force for India Red for the second consecutive day, claiming five wickets in his quota of overs.

Abhishek Nayar (29), Piyush Chawla (26) and Pankaj Singh (25) made some useful contributions towards the end but they all went in vain, as those knocks only helped in postponing the defeat.

A 41-run stand between Piyush Chawla (29) and Nayar sustained the team's effort but India Red innings packed up for the score of 215 in 47 overs.