The NKP Salve Challengers Trophy began on a thrilling note as India Blue defeated India Red by just one wicket with three balls remaining at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur on the opening day.
The contest was as close as 12 runs required from 18, with Blue’s Ashok Dinda and Siddharth Trivedi on the crease and it skimmed down to seven runs needed from the last over. The winnings runs came from Dinda’s bat as he pulled Munaf Patel’s third delivery to mid-wicket boundary leading his team to victory. But the man of the hour remained Suresh Sharma who struck a classy 87 laying a strong foundation for his team.
Nothing except the fall of wickets was constant during the India Blue while Suresh clung to the crease like an anchor. The team lost early wickets in the form of Naman Ojha, Wasif Jaffar and Kedar Jadhav chasing the 249-run target set by India Red. Blue skipper, Mahendra Singh Dhoni scored 37 runs from 40 balls until he lost his wicket to pacer Ishant Sharma. Red’s Sharma, who has been under scanner for quite some time now for his poor form, scalped four wickets while Ravindra Jadeja claimed two wickets conceding 36 runs.
Earlier, India Red had won the toss and elected to bat first. After their openers, Murali Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan gave the team a flying start by scoring 79 runs within just 10.2 overs it appeared that India Red would get past 300 but all that it could manage was to stagger to 248 in 44.3 overs.
Riding on the good start by the openers, middle-order batsmen Harshad Khadiwale who scored 55 off 51 balls and Ishank Jaggi who scored 54 from 51 balls continued the good show. Khadiwale was impressive in his knock of 51 with his strokes and play, chipping in as many as seven boundaries. However, after the two departed, the lower order batsmen put up a disappointing show as they could not build up any further on the platform that others provided. Red skipper S Badrinath was all the more disappointing as he departed after playing just ten balls and scoring a single run.
For the Blue, Harbhajan Singh and Ashok Dinda kept getting breakthroughs at crucial moments resulting in an early wrap-up of the Red innings within just 44.3 overs. It was interesting when skipper MS Dhoni took over some bowling and claimed Wriddhiman Saha’s wicket bowling from round the wicket.
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