Bhuvi does it for Yuvi

Pacer Kumar's four wickets help Yuvraj-led India Blue defeat Delhi in Challenger Trophy final.

Manish Pandeys 78-ball 62 and Piyush Chawlas quickfire 42 from number seven infused life into India Blues innings to help them post 274/9,which eventually proved to be a winning total on a slow Holkar stadium wicket. With Bhuvneshwar Kumar also coming to the party with a spell of four for 39,India Blue beat Delhi by 50 runs to lift the NKP Salve Challenger Trophy.

Akshath Reddy and Naman Ojha once again gave India Blue a good start,putting on 53 for the first wicket. With the pitch on the slower side,Ojha and Reddy avoided playing away from their bodies. Whenever he could,Ojha used the pace of the bowlers particularly well,but his impressive innings of 33 ended when he chopped one on from Parvinder Awana. Reddy was out not long after,scooping one to short cover off a slower one from Rajat Bhatia.

Manish Pandey,who scored 70 on Saturday against India Red,started at a snails pace,scoring only nine off the first 29 balls he faced. Off the 30th,he drove left-armer Pawan Suyal between the stumps and mid-on for his first boundary.

At the other end,Yuvraj Singh was in no hurry either,fully mindful of the conditions. Pandey and Yuvraj put on 69 off 75 balls,before Bhatia struck again to trap Yuvraj in front. Abhishek Nayar,another left-hander,walked in,and faced the same fate when he missed a flick while on 12. It was Bhatia who was entrusted with bowling the 12-over quota,and he struck in his 11th,foxing Pandey,with a slower ball,into offering him a return catch.

Till then,Pandey had shown great skill and patience in playing largely through the V. He milked spinners Varun Sood and Milind Kumar in particular,striking Sood for four boundaries and taking a six and a four off Milind. Sood had squared Pandey up early in his innings but the left-arm spinner didnt seem to gauge the nature of the wicket and kept bowling quick and short thereafter.

At the fall of Pandeys wicket,Chawla walked in to join Ankit Bawne. The Delhi bowlers failed to stick to a line and gave Chawla easy runs. Bawne struck three fours an a six in his 37,and put on 46 with Chawla,before Awana trapped him.

During his 32-ball 42,Chawla disturbed the length of pacers Suyal and Ashish Nehra by stepping out to them and hitting them over their heads. They bowled short in reply but there was little bounce in the wicket and Chawla put them away easily. His knock brought Blue back in the game after Bhatias strikes and snatched the momentum from Delhi. Awana too finished with four wickets,picking up the scalps of Bhuvneshwar and Chawla during his final spell.

Stumbling start

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Delhi stumbled at the start with Gautam Gambhir slicing a full delivery from Bhuvneshwar straight into the hands of Manish Pandey. Bhuvneshwar then bowled Unmukt Chand with a beautiful in-dipper in his third over. Virat Kohli began positively but saw Sehwag depart after scoring only 5,with Vinay Kumar crashing through his gate. Delhi were 26/3.

On 23,having already struck five boundaries,Kohli tried to steal a single off Vinays bowling,but the seamers diving stop created a mix-up and his direct hit found Kohli short of his crease.

Milind Kumar and Rajat Bhatia put on 74 before the former lost his wicket to Chawla on 54. His innings contained seven hits to the fence. Delhi were 120/5 in the 27th over. After the addition of three more runs,Bhatia scooped an easy catch to Yuvraj at point off Chawla. Puneet Bisht showed intent and kept the scoreboard ticking. He remained unbeaten on 54 6215;4,1215;6,even as Vinay and Bhuvneshwar ran through the Delhi tail to finish with three and four wickets respectively.

Brief scores: India Blue 274/9 M Pandey 62,P Chawla 42; P Awana 4/39,R Bhatia 4/59 beat Delhi 224 all out P Bisht 54,M Kumar 54; B Kumar 4/39,Vinay Kumar 3/64