By IANS
Ahmedabad : India Blue defeated India Red by 12 runs in the opening 50-over match of the N.K.P. Salve Challenger Trophy here Thursday.
Chasing a target of 247 set by India Blue, the Red could muster 234 for eight wickets in 50 overs in the day-night encounter at the Sardar Patel Stadium here.
Earlier in the day, a stroke-filled 92 by Suresh Raina helped India Blue to recover from a shaky start and post a respectable 246 in 50 overs. Openers failed to give the Blue a good start as Ajinkya Rahane failed to open his account and captain Virender Sehwag (9) failed to impress selectors once again.
Early strikes from Praveen Kumar and Sidharth Trivedi reduced India Blue to 41 for four in the 12th over. But Raina and Neeraj Patel (35) added 87 runs for the fifth wickets to bail out India Blue from a precarious situation.
Kumar was the most successful bowler with his four for 42 from 10 overs while Trivedi picked up three for 52 from as many overs.
India Red also started their chase on a poor note and the batsmen failed to put up a respectable show and stitch good partnerships. Mahesh Rawat was the top scorer with 47 while captain Mohammed Kaif scored 42 and Subramaniam Badrinath contributed 41.
SCOREBOARD:
India Blue vs. India Red, Challenger Trophy, Sardar Patel Stadium, Motera, Ahmedabad, Oct 25
India Blue:
Ajinkya Rahane b Kumar 0
Virender Sehwag c Badrinath b Kumar 9
Swapnil Asnodkar c Sharma b Trivedi 19
Dinesh Karthik lbw b Kumar 0
Suresh Raina c Kohli b Trivedi 92
Neeraj Patel c Kaif b Ojha 35
Joginder Sharma c Kumar b Trivedi 27
Amit Mishra not out 29
Ramesh Powar lbw b Kumar 21
Yo Mahesh lbw b Mundhe 1
Ranadeb Bose b Sharma 3 8
Extras (lb 1, w 7, nb 2) 10
Total (all out in 49.3 overs) 246
Fall of wickets1-0 (Rahane, 0.1 overs), 2-23 (Sehwag, 6.2), 3-23 (Karthik, 6.3), 4-41 (Asnodkar, 11.4), 5-128 (Patel, 28.4), 6-177 (Joginder Sharma, 38.4 ov), 7-202 (Raina, 42.2 ov), 8-236 (Powar, 46.4), 9-237 (Mahesh, 47.1)
Bowling
Praveen Kumar 10-0-42-4 (1nb, 1w)
Ishant Sharma 9.3-1-43-1 (1nb, 1w)
Sidharth Trivedi 10-3-52-3 (2w)
Srikant Mundhe 8-2-43-1 (3w)
Pragyan Ojha 10-0-50-1
Subramaniam Badrinath 2-0-15-0
India Red:
Ravneet Ricky c Sehwag b Bose 10
Gautam Gambhir run out (Sehwag) 0
Mohammed Kaif c Asnodkar b Joginder 42
Virat Kohli b Mishra 30
Subramaniam Badrinath b Mishra 41
Mahesh Rawat b Sharma 47
Parveen Kumar c Raina b Sehwag 37
Srikant Mundhe not out 12
Sidharth Trivedi b Joginder 1
Pragyan Ojha not out 2
Extras (lb 1, w 9, nb 2) 12
Total (for eight wickets in 50 overs) 234
Fall of wickets: 1-1 (Gambhir, 0.6 overs), 2-35 (Ricky, 10.5), 3-70 (Kaif, 18.3), 4-105 (Kohli, 25.6), 5-153 (Badrinath, 37.3), 6-215 (Kumar, 46.2), 7-221 (Rawat, 47.2), 8-223 (Trivedi, 47.6)
Bowling:
Ranadeb Bose 8.1-1-34-1 (4w)
Joginder Sharma 10-1-30-3 (1nb, 1w)
Yo Mahesh 8.5-0-58-0 (3w)
Amit Mishra 10-0-40-2 (1nb)
Ramesh Powar 7-0-33-0
Neeraj Patel 1-0-6-0
Virender Sehwag 5-0-32-1 (1w)
Result: India Blue won by 12 runs
Umpires: A.Y. Gokhale and A.V. Jayaprakash
TV umpire: S.D. Ranade