Related Links : Challenger Trophy : Link to Scorecard
Gautam Gambhir’s century helped India Red to stage an upset over India Blue (India Seniors) in the opening match of the NKP Salve Challenger Trophy in Chennai. The Seniors fielding a powerful batting line-up faltered by 21 runs in their chase of 281 under lights at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chepauk. They had lost the match despite getting off to a rollicking start of 96 in 97 deliveries between Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar.
Earlier in the day, it was Venugopal Rao of India Red who had won the toss to bat first under ideal batting conditions. A 145-run partnership between left handed opener Gautam Gambhir and Skipper Venugopal saw the Reds close their innings at 280 all out in the allotted 50 overs. Gambhir who was discarded from the Test Side in favour of Wasim Jaffer cracked 110 off 119 deliveries with the help of 10 fours and a six. Venugopal was a touch slow getting 67 in 101 deliveries with 9 hits to the fence. The other significant contributor was Mumbai youngster Rohit Sharma scoring a 29-ball 33. For the Blues, Irfan Pathan and Munaf Patel who had opened the bowling together took three wickets each while Ajit Agarkar picked up a couple of wickets.
The Seniors had fielded Sachin Tendulkar despite reports coming that he would be rested for this game. After a superb opening start between Tendulkar (61) and Sehwag (28), wickets fell quite regularly to put India Red in the Driver’s Seat. A 79-run partnership for the 5th wicket between Yuvraj Singh (57) and Dinesh Mongia (26) was the only ray of hope for the Seniors to win the match. But once Yuvraj Singh was dismissed by Murali Kartik, it was curtains for the Blues as Harbhajan Singh who was trying to put up a fight couldn’t get enough support from the other end. India Seniors were bowled out for 259 in 47.3 overs. Vikram Singh was the most successful bowler taking three wickets including that of Dravid and Dhoni. Zaheer Khan and Murali Kartik picked up a couple of wickets.