NAGPUR, Oct 8 (UNI): Half-centuries by Harshad Khadiwale (55) and Ishank Jaggi (54) helped India Red reach 248 all out against India Blue in the NKP Salve Challenger Trophy match at VCA stadium, here today.
After a brisk start provided by Shikhar Dhawan (39) and Murali Vijay (44) India Red lost wickets at regular intervals to lose the plot.
Useful and aggressive knocks from Khadiwale and Jaggi helped them to recover on a wicket perfect for batting.
All the set batsmen were guilty of throwing their wickets after looking good for big knocks.
India Blue’s Harbhajan Singh and Ashok Dinda recovered from their bad opening spells to take three wickets each.
India Red started positively when Dhawan and Vijay punished Dinda through the off-side regularly.
Vijay was smooth in his off-side play and even hoisted S Sreesanth over his head for a superb six.
Dhawan too was going strong at the other end.
He collected boundaries through the square region and also hit some gorgeous cover drives.
The pair put on 79 for the first wicket in just 10.2 overs when Harbhajan struck.
Vijay was the first to go, caught by wicket-keeper Naman Ojha on an inside edge that ballooned off his pads.
Dhawan too fell in the similar fashion to medium-pacer Siddarth Trivedi.
Maharashtra batsman Harshad Khadiwale then took over by pulling Trivedi for a boundary and chipping Harbhajan over the in-field.
In the meanwhile, a misunderstanding resulted in skipper S Badrinath’s run out.
Khadiwale then found the support of Ishank Jaggi as the pair added a busy 49 in 54 balls for the fourth wicket.
They looked like getting India Red to a big total when Dinda got the breakthrough.
Khadiwale mistimed a pull and offered a simple catch to Kedar Jadhav at mid-on.
The right-hander scored 55 in 51 balls with the help of seven boundaries.
Jaggi and Ravindra Jadeja then shared a 45-run stand for the fifth wicket.
Jaggi completed his fifty soon.
He used the late cut and flicks apart from hitting Yusuf Pathan over long-on for a six.
Pathan got the revenge when he had Jaggi caught by Ojha while going for another late cut.
At 212 for five the downfall started.
Harbhajan, who looked ineffective in his first spell of 6-0-32-1, came back to halt India Red’s march.
He slowed down the pace and picked up Jadeja (22) and last man Munaf Patel (7) to end with figures of 3 for 40.
Dinda also picked two more as India Red did not last their 50 overs and were dismissed for 248 in 44.4 overs.
Siddarth Trivedi and Mahendra Singh Dhoni took a wicket each.