Jaffer,Mukund lead India Blue to final

When India Blue stepped onto the field for their pre-match warm-ups on Saturday,31-year-old Wasim Jaffer looked an odd-man-out in the midst of his many junior team mates....

When India Blue stepped onto the field for their pre-match warm-ups on Saturday,31-year-old Wasim Jaffer looked an odd-man-out in the midst of his many junior team mates as he went about his routine in customary laidback fashion. Meanwhile,Abhinav Mukund,all of 19,proved to be the most enthusiastic of the lot,involving himself in every single activity with vigour.

But the final league match of the Challenger Series ended up being the tale of these two contrasting openers at different ends of the spectrum in their careers with both scoring authoritative centuries to lead India Blue to a massive total of 351/2 at the Vidarbha Cricket Association (VCA) Stadium in Nagpur. In response,India Green never looked like getting even close and finished their innings at 263 for the loss of nine wickets.

Over the years,Jaffer has kept the national selectors four of whom are present in Nagpur interested by amassing plenty of runs in domestic cricket. And if their attention was beginning to waiver,the Mumbai captain sent them a reminder on Saturday,smashing the India Green bowlers to smithereens in his 143-ball 143.

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Jaffer looked in command from the start against the no-balling Vikramjeet Singh Malik and the off-colour duo of Laxmipathy Balaji and Dhawal Kulkarni. The spinners werent spared the treatment either as he smashed 17 fours and one six,and was the first to cross the 100-run landmark during his 265-run opening stand with Mukund.

Mukund,who was a late inclusion after Sachin Tendulkar pulled out of the tournament,batted sensibly for a major part of his 123-ball 114,which included nine fours and a six. Later in the day,another young opener Tanmay Srivastava also added his own chapter,but it proved to be a slow-grounded 133-ball 100 for India Green by which time the match was all but over.

Brief scores: India Blue 351/2 in 50 overs (W Jaffer 143,A Mukund 114; D Kulkarni 1/69) beat India Green 263/9 in 50 overs (T Srivastava 100,S Anirudha 63; A Dinda 3/54,Harbhajan 2/40)