Kaarthick walks all over Red carpet

Earlier in the day, it was the turn of Gautam Gambhir to sizzle. He had already proved his form and fitness with a match-winning performance in the Twenty20 match against Australia, and subsequently in a league match in this Challenger Series before. Yesterday, his name was promptly inked into the top-heavy 15-member squad for the first two ODIs against Pakistan but today his battle was possibly to send another message — that he is ready to be inducted into the playing eleven with a breezy 83.

Gambhir was at his attacking best right from the beginning — launching the fifth ball of the day into the stands, coming down the wicket to hit that good-length delivery over wide long-on and then hit Joginder Sharma for two boundaries in the bowler’s second over through the point region and then through mid-on. And that was after Joginder had struck twice in his previous over reducing the Red team to 11 for 2.

But the batting card did little to dampen Gambhir’s spirit as the left-hander played his shots abundantly, and reached his fifty in 44 balls with five hits to the fence and a six. He soon got a lifer as he was dropped after reaching his half-century by Amit Mishra at backward point off Yo Mahesh and hit a further two to the fence before Mishra atoned for his slip-up by dismissing him. Gambhir came down the track, looking to hit over mid-wicket but Mishra pushed it flatter and quicker, taking the top-edge and straight to Joginder at short third-man.

S Badrinath, meanwhile, continued his run-glut with a second consecutive fifty today; his knock today was more sedate in contrast to his earlier knocks in the tournament, preferring to drop down as anchor having walked in at 47 for 3, and watching Gambhir scoring freely at the other end. Red, through that partnership, were sailing smoothly at 158 for 3 in 28.2 overs but Amit Mishra struck in consecutive balls to sent back Gambhir and Virat Kohli, and then Sehwag got rid of Paresh Patel to reduce the opposition to 159 for 6.

Badrinath too had departed in the same time to Yo Mahesh after scoring 55 from 88 balls without a single boundary. Keeper Mahesh Rawat spruced up the scorecard with an unbeaten 43, and along with Pragyan Ojha (20) and Shrikant Mundhe (18) produced some fireworks at the end to take his team to a respectable total.

Scoreboard

India red innings

P Kumar b Joginder 1

G Gambhir c Joginder b Mishra 82

K Goel b Joginder 4

M Kaif c Rahane b Bose 22

S Badrinath lbw Mahesh 55

V Kohli c & b Mishra 0

P Patel lbw Sehwag 0

M Rawat not out 43

S Mundhe st Kaartick b Mishra 18

P Ojha c Sehwag b Mahesh 20

S Trivedi run out 5

Extras: (lb 10, w 8, nb 1) 19

Total: (all out; 49.3 overs) 269

Fall of wickets: 1-7, 2-11, 3-47, 4-158, 5-158, 6-159, 7-191, 8-219, 9-252

Bowling: R Bose 10-0-53-1; Joginder 7-0-41-2; Yo Mahesh 9.3-0-56-2; R Powar 8-0-34-0; A Mishra 10-0-45-3; V Sehwag 5-0-30-1

India blue innings

V Sehwag c & b Mundhe 1

A Rahane run out 20

A Yadav run out 6

S Raina b Trivedi 50

D Kaarthick not out 116

N Patel not out 62

Extras: (lb 2, w 13) 15

Total: (4 wickets; 41 overs) 270

Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-22, 3-55, 4-102

Bowling: P Kumar 9-0-52-0; S Mundhe 5-0-34-1; S Trivedi 6-1-44-1; P Ojha 9-0-60-0; S Badrinath 2-0-17-0; P Patel 7-0-36-0; M Kaif 1-0-7-0; K Goel 2-0-18-0

Result: India Blue won by sIx wickets