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Badri, Praveen carry Reds into the Final

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A beautiful innings from Subramaniam Badrinath was well complemented by a five-wicket haul from medium pacer Praveen Kumar in the evening under lights. The result was an emphatic win for the Mohammad Kaif led India Reds that has secured its place in the Final following a bonus point today. India Green which is led by wicket keeper Parthiv Patel found itself wanting in a chase of 300 plus.

Kaif’s team which had lost yesterday to India Blue had their backs to the wall. The toss went in their favour which got them to bat first and put up a big total. Gautam Gambhir showed his class today scoring a 74-ball 73 with 7 fours that set the tone for the innings. Gambhir was supported by Karan Goel who chipped in with 33. Badrinath then carried the game forward from the middle overs coming in at no.5. Today as well, he found some support from the hard hitting Virat Kohli. Both right handers with their partnership of 85 for the 5th wicket took the Reds in the slogs. There was no looking back with the batting side accelerating the scoring with utmost ease getting more than 80 runs in the final 10 overs. S Badrinath remained undefeated 82 from 79 that had 7 fours and a six which earned him the Man of the Match award. Virat Kohli had contributed a good looking 40 which had a couple of sixes. Badri towards the end was supported by left handed Paresh Patel, who got a cameo of 22 from 12.

India Red finished on a high at 303 for 7 with both Munaf Patel (1 for 81 in 10 overs) and Piyush Chawla (8-0-69-1) taken to the cleaners. The tall Pankaj Singh was very impressive with his late outswingers which saw him get figures of 8-2-37-2. Another noteworthy bowler was Mumbai’s Iqbal Abdulla who got two wickets with his left arm spin.

The India Green side just crumbled under the pressure of chasing a big total. Opening bowler Praveen Kumar was once again instrumental in troubling the batsmen with his sharp swing in the air. The Greens found themselves out of the contest in the 17th over at 67 for 4. Manoj Tiwary was the lone man fighting and all he could do was in impressing the Selectors with a breezy knock of 65 from 71 with 8 fours. The India Green side was bundled out for 215 in 47 overs with Praveen Kumar finishing with 5 for 45 in 9 overs.