NKP Salve Challenger Trophy 2008-09

India Red v India Green at Cuttack

IND Red v IND Green: Rohit stars in India Red victory

Rohit Sharma stroked an emphatic unbeaten century to guide India Red to a five wicket win over India Green in the N.K.P. Salve Challenger Trophy..
Rohit’s strokeful 117 saw India Red cross the 261 run target with one over to spare at the Barabatti Stadium. The Mumbai batsman was well supported by Murali Vijay (45) and Abhishek Nayar (34). India Red, who lost their first match against India Blue, thus kept themselves in the hunt for a place in the final Sunday. India Green would take on India Blue Saturday to decide the finalists.
Electing to bat, India Green, led by Mohammad Kaif, were off to a blazing start through Naman Ojha (96) and Shikhar Dhwan (45). A collapase at the end though dashed their hopes of a bigger target. Ojha and Dhawan put on 102 runs in 19 overs, laying the foundation of a formidable score.
After Dhawan’s exit, Ojha and Suresh Raina (58) stitched together 95 runs and it seemed that India Green would cross the 300 mark. But thereafter their batsmen lost the plot as Piyush Chawla (3/50) and Parveen Kumar (2/51) rocked their middle order. India Green lost their last eight wickets in nine overs. Chawla triggered a collapse when he removed both the set batsmen - Ojha and Raina - in one over. The lower order then surrendered, trying to step up the run rate in the final overs.
The India Red batting revolved around Rohit, who put on 75 runs with Vijay, and then a 50 run stand with skipper Subramaniam Badrinath (27) after the fall of opener Faiz Fazal. But India Green came back into the match with the scalps of Badrinath and Manoj Tiwari. India Red were 171/4 in 39 over at one stage and the equation was a run-a-ball, but Rohit and Nayar saw the team through the difficult situtation with a 86 run partnership.
Rohit hit some exquisite stroke in his 120 ball innings, inclusive of 13 boundaries and two sixes.

IND Red v IND Green: India Red 263 for 5 beat India Green 260 for 9 by 5 wickets

NKP Salve Challenger Trophy 2008-09

India Red v India Green at Cuttack

Scorecard

India Green
N Ojha c Vijay b Chawla 96; S Dhawan c Tiwary b Parmar 45; S Raina c Tiwary b Chawla 58; Y Pathan c Fazal b Chawla 0; M Kaif c Tiwary b Nayar 15; L Shukla run out (Saha) 3; C Pujara not out 18; RP Singh b Kumar 4; M Gony b Kumar 0; P Singh b Balaji 0; P Ojha not out 1
Extras (b-1, lb-9, wd-10): 20
Total (for 9 wkts): 260
FoW: 1-102, 2-197, 3-198, 4-226, 5-228, 6-232, 7-246, 8-246, 9-247
Bowling: P Kumar 10-0-51-2, L Balaji 10-1-37-1, A Nayar 5-0-43-1, P Chawla 10-0-50-3, M Parmar 10-0-45-1, R Sharma 5-0-24-0

India Red

F Fazal lbw b Gony 15, M Vijay c Shukla b Pathan 45, R Sharma not out 117, S Badrinath c N Ojha b Gony 27, M Tiwary lbw b Raina 8, A Nayar c Pujara b RP Singh 34, P Chawla not out 1
Extras (lb-9, w-6, nb-1): 16
Total (for 5 wkts): 263
FoW: 1-24, 2-99, 3-159, 4-171, 5-257
Bowling: RP Singh 8.5-1-52-1, M Gony 9-1-52-2, P Singh 4-0-23-0, P Ojha 9-0-40-0, Y Pathan 10-0-40-1, L Shukla 3-0-16-0, S Raina 5-1-31-1

NKP Salve Challenger Trophy Tournaments