A superb all-round performance earned India Blue a 91-run victory over Indian Green and a place in Sunday's final of the N K P Salve Challenger Trophy, at Sardar Patel Gujarat Stadium, in Motera, Ahmedabad, on Saturday.
India Blue rode on brilliant half-centuries from Virender Sehwag, Arjun Yadav, Suresh Raina and Dinesh Karthik to score 330 for eight in their allotted 50 overs before bundling out their opponents for 239 in just 38.2 overs.
Off-spinner Ramesh Powar and leggie Amit Mishra were the most successful bowlers for India Blue, picking three wickets each.
With today's victory, India Blue topped the table with nine points, including a bonus point from today's game, from two victories.
Sehwag, who has been recalled to the Indian ODI team for the first two matches against Pakistan next month, scored a breezy 75 runs in just 57 balls. He struck 14 fours and a six and provided the much-needed momentum to his team after it won the toss and elected to bat.
Later, Yadav (65), Raina (64) and Karthik (65) made significant contributions to help pile up a mammoth total.
Faced with a stiff asking rate of over six runs per over, India Green could not keep up the momentum needed to chase down the big target as they kept losing wickets at regular intervals.
After openers Yousuf Pathan (6) and S Anirudha (13) fell cheaply, skipper Parthiv Patel (53) and Rohit Sharma (480 stitched together a 81-run partnership for the third wicket.
However, after they departed, the chase fell apart with Manoj Tiwary (16), Abhishek Nayar (22) and Cheteshwar Pujara not contributing much.
Scorecard
India Blue
V Sehwag b I Abdulla 75
S Anodkar c P Patel b P Singh 8
A Yadav c Pujara b Tiwary 65
S Raina c Tiwary b Chawla 64
D Karthick b M Patel 65
N Patel c Tiwary b Chawla 22
R Powar c M Patel b I Abdulla 0
J Sharma run out 2
A Mishra not out 9
S Bandekar not out 12
Extras: (lb-5, w-3) 8
Total: (for 8 wkts in 50 overs) 330
Fall of wickets: 1-23, 2-112, 3-197, 4-229, 5-292, 6-293, 7-307, 8-313
Bowling: M Patel 10-1-52-1, Pankaj Singh 9-0-54-1, Abhishek Nayar 3-0-35-0, Piyush Chawla 10-0-60-2, I Abdulla 9-0-56-2, Yousuf Pathan 4-0-26-0, Manoj Tiwary 3-0-25-1, Rohit Sharma 2-0-17-0.
India Green:
Y Pathan c Asnodkar b Joginder Sharma 6
S Anirudha b Joginder Sharma 13
P Patel run out (Joginder Sharma) 53
R Sharma st Karthik b Powar 48
M Tiwary b Powar 16
A Nayar c Karthik b Mishra 22
C Pujara c sub b Powar 4
P Chawla lbw b Mishra 18
I Abdulla not out 14
P Singh c Patel b Mishra 10
M Patel c Patel b Raina 11
Extras: (b-2, w-15, nb-7) 24
Total: (all out in 38.2 overs) 239
Fall of wickets: 1-10, 2-46, 3-127, 4-131, 5-174, 6-178, 7-185, 8-204, 9-224, 10-239
Bowling: Joginder Sharma 5-0-29-2, V Yomahesh 6-0-48-0, S Bandekar 4.3-0-44-0, R Powar 10-0-45-3, A Mishra 10-0-50-3, V Sehwag 2.3-0-21-0, S Raina 0.2-0-0-1.
