Uthappa leads Blues to victory

Turning the tables on the traditional notion that the Challengers is a batsman8217;s domain, the spinners used the favourable nature of the Barabati track to script their own turn of events.

Turning the tables on the traditional notion that the Challengers is a batsman8217;s domain, the spinners used the favourable nature of the Barabati track to script their own turn of events. India Blues started their NKP Salve Challeger Trophy title defence with a convincing win of 49 runs over India Reds on Thursday.

If it was Mohnish Parmar 2 for 36 who spun a web to restrict India Blue to a modest 235 for 9, and later in the evening, it was turn of the spin trio of Ravichandran Ashwin 3 for 27, Chetanya Nanda 2 for 35 and India Blue skipper Yuvraj Singh 1 for 35, who choked the hapless India Red batsmen and wrapped them up for a paltry 186 with nearly five overs left.

Batting first, Blue8217;s opening trump card Robin Uthappa came up with a knock that was enough to see his side through. Uthappa8217;s entertaining 106-ball innings and Irfan Pathan8217;s 43 runs off 44 balls rescue act formed the backbone of India Blue8217;s innings, which was otherwise hit hard by Parmar8217;s sharp turners.

A target of 236 may have looked modest after Uthappa threw the bat around, but S Badrinath 038; Co struggled to find a way to get the better of the spinners. M Vijay was the only batsman to offer some resistance, scoring 89. But his fifth-wicket stand of 78 with Manoj Tiwary was not enough to ensure a win for India Red.

Scoreboard

India Blue: R Uthappa c Tiwary b Sharma 94, A Rahane c Chawla b Balaji 28, Y Singh c Badrinath b Vinay Kumar 6, V Kohli c 038; b Parmar 18, K Karthik c Patel b Parmar 0, I Singh b Balaji 17, I Pathan c Tiwary b P Kumar 43, R Ashwin b Chawla 11, P Sangwan b P Kumar 2, C Nanda not out 1, S Trivedi not out 3; Extras lb-11, w-1: 12; Total for 9 wickets: 235; FoW: 1-87, 2-94, 3-132, 4-132, 5-165, 6-191, 7-222, 8-231, 9-231; Bowling: P Kumar 10-0-34-2, Balaji 10-0-51-2, V Kumar 7-0-30-1, P Chawla 10-0-54-1, M Parmar 10-1-36-2, R Sharma 3-0-19-1

India Red: P Patel c 038; b Pathan 6, M Vijay c Sangwan b Ashwin 89, P Chawla c Karthik b Sangwan 9, S Badrinath lbw b Nanda 10, R Sharma c I Singh b Trivedi 2, M Tiwary not out 45, A Nayar st Karthik b Y Singh 1, P Kumar b Ashwin 2, V Kumar lbw b Nanda 5, L Balaji b Ashwin 1, M Parmar lbw b Pathan 4; Extras b-5, lb-5, w-2: 12; Total: 186; FoW: 1-18, 2-27, 3-63, 4-66, 5-144, 6-149, 7-158, 8-177, 9-178; Bowling: I Pathan 6.3-2-24-2, P Sangwan 6-1-17-1, S Trivedi 6-1-27-1, R Uthappa 1-0-11-0, C Nanda 8-0-35-2, Y Singh 8-0-35-1, R Ashwin 10-0-27-3