Murali Vijay slams century,big win puts India Red into final

Apart from being the traditional curtain-raiser for the one-day season,the Challenger Series is also the platform where a number of players aim to impress....

Apart from being the traditional curtain-raiser for the one-day season,the Challenger Series is also the platform where a number of players aim to impress the national selectors. And while there have been a few half-centuries by Ishank Jaggi and Harsh Khadiwale (on Thursday) and Saurabh Tiwary and Anirudha Srikkanth (on Friday),it was Murali Vijay who showed them how to drive the point home. The Tamil Nadu batsman smashed a 117-ball 104 to lead India Red to a comprehensive eight-wicket win against India Green at the Vidarbha Cricket Association stadium.

An attacking batsman is not one who just plays a lot of aggressive shots,but one who manages to intimidate the bowlers, Vijay had said during the Irani Cup,where he scored a confident 91. And while it was the turn of Sreesanth,Siddarth Trivedi and Ashoke Dinda to face the wrath of the Tamil Nadu opener on Thursday as he hit a quickfire 44 runs before falling to Harbhajan,it was a more mature Vijay though he did explode towards the end who finished off India Green. Vijays century included 10 fours and a big six over mid-wicket of Dhawal Kulkarni and by the time he holed out off the bowling of Chetnya Nanda,India Red needed a mere 21 runs for victory.

The pair of Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan continued their good form at the top of the order,adding 155 for the first wicket,before the latter fell to Kulkarni for 68. Captain S Badrinath remained unbeaten on a 29-ball 34 to hand his team a bonus point.

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Earlier in the day,India Green lost Parthiv Patel out to a spectacular catch by Dhawan on a day that saw a number of slips and Ajinkya Rahane early,before Suresh Raina self-destructed by playing a wild shot against Munaf Patel. Tanmay Srivastava and Tiwary then set about resurrecting the innings,playing patiently and concentrating solely on rotating the strike. But while the left-handed opener fell nine short of his half-century,being trapped lbw by Ravindra Jadeja,Tiwary,who wasnt part of the Challenger Series originally,managed to cross the landmark.

Srikkanth,meanwhile,despite not batting in his customary position at the top of the order,played a solid hand before playing a few big shots during the batting powerplay. The right-handed Tamil Nadu batsman was out in the last over for a 57-ball 58. Munaf Patel ended up with three wickets,Ishant Sharma was disappointing again,going for 41 runs in his seven overs.

Brief scores: India Green 223 for 7 in 50 (Saurabh Tiwary 68,Srikkanth Anirudha; Munaf Patel 3/57,R Ashwin 2/40) lost to India Red 229 for 2 in 38.4 overs (M Vijay 104,S Dhawan 68; C Nanda 1/43) by eight wickets