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Gambhir's ton
helps Reds upset Blues |
 Gautam
Gambhir's century helped India Red to stage an
upset over India Blue (India Seniors) in the
opening match of the NKP Salve Challenger Trophy
in Chennai. The Seniors fielding a powerful
batting line-up faltered by 21 runs in their
chase of 281 under lights at the MA Chidambaram
Stadium in Chepauk. They had lost the match
despite getting off to a rollicking start of 96
in 97 deliveries between Virender Sehwag and
Sachin Tendulkar.
Earlier in the day, it was Venugopal Rao of
India Red who had won the toss to bat first
under ideal batting conditions. A 145-run
partnership between left handed opener Gautam
Gambhir and Skipper Venugopal saw the Reds close
their innings at 280 all out in the allotted 50
overs. Gambhir who was discarded from the Test
Side in favour of Wasim Jaffer cracked 110 off
119 deliveries with the help of 10 fours and a
six. Venugopal was a touch slow getting 67 in
101 deliveries with 9 hits to the fence. The
other significant contributor was Mumbai
youngster Rohit Sharma scoring a 29-ball 33. For
the Blues, Irfan Pathan and Munaf Patel who had
opened the bowling together took three wickets
each while Ajit Agarkar picked up a couple of
wickets.
The Seniors had fielded Sachin Tendulkar despite
reports coming that he would be rested for this
game. After a superb opening start between
Tendulkar (61) and Sehwag (28), wickets fell
quite regularly to put India Red in the Driver's
Seat. A 79-run partnership for the 5th wicket
between Yuvraj Singh (57) and Dinesh Mongia (26)
was the only ray of hope for the Seniors to win
the match. But once Yuvraj Singh was dismissed
by Murali Kartik, it was curtains for the Blues
as Harbhajan Singh who was trying to put up a
fight couldn't get enough support from the other
end. India Seniors were bowled out for 259 in
47.3 overs. Vikram Singh was the most successful
bowler taking three wickets including that of
Dravid and Dhoni. Zaheer Khan and Murali Kartik
picked up a couple of wickets.
Link to
Scorecard
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