Left-arm spinner Murali Kartik finished with his best one-day figures before opener S Vidyut’s spirited 87 ensured that India Seniors cruised to a comfortable three-wicket win over India ‘B’ in the final of the Challenger Trophy here today.India Seniors bowlers applied the choke effectively, after choosing to field first, and restricted India B to a modest 177. It was a total which, despite the impressive efforts of Piyush Chawla, and S Sree Santh was never going to be enough with a rampaging batting line-up to contend with.India B were undone by Zaheer Khan early on, when he induced the top-order batsmen into indiscretion, and were flummoxed by Kartik’s accuracy while they tried to accelerate.The chase was kick-started by Vidyut, who got his first chance in the tournament, with some gorgeous cover-drives.Most of the other batsmen struggled against the wiles of Chawla, a 16-year-old legspinner from Uttar Pradesh. Not too many bowlers deceive Sachin Tendulkar with a googly and to sneak one in through the gate, as Tendulkar tried to cut, was a stunning sight.Brief scores: India B: 177 in 42.5 overs (S Dhawan 26; P Patel 39; R Shukla not out 26, Zaheer Khan 3-42, Murali Kartik 5-29) lost to India Seniors: 181-7 in 39 overs (S Vidyut 87, S Tendulkar 22, Santh 3-32, Piyush Chawla 3-49).
