October 10, Indore: The last round robin game of the NKP Salve Challenger Trophy was played between India Blue and India Green at the Holkar cricket stadium in Indore today. The Blues were without a win going into this game and needed to pull off a huge victory if they were to qualify for the final.

The Blues immediately showed their mettle after winning the toss and opting to bat first. Shikhar Dhawan and Ajinkya Rahane put on a 193-run partnership for the second wicket at just under 6 per over in 34.1 overs. Dhawan helped himself to a fine 109 which had as many as 14 boundaries, while Rahane carried on his good form from the previous game (84) to fall five short of what would have been a well deserved century (95).

That partnership set the foundation for a big total and even though Yuvraj Singh fell for just 21 runs, Manoj Tiwary batting at No. 5 ensured that the Blues crossed the 300-run mark with a 27-ball knock of 46 runs. The most generous India Green bowlers were Pankaj Singh and Jaskaran Singh who between their 20 overs conceded as many as 149 runs.

Chasing 321 was never going to be an easy task and RP Singh and Umesh Yadav bowled exceedingly well for India Blue early in India Green’s innings to deny the latter any chance of making the target. Wickets fell at regular intervals for India Green, with every bowler from India Blue at least having one wicket to show against his name on the day.

Rohit Sharma (37) and young Kedar Jadhav (71) of Maharashtra were the only batsmen from India Green to put up respectable scores, but with Yo Mahesh taking three wickets, the Greens surrendered without too much of a fight. The Blues cruised to a 111-run win and earned a spot in the final where they will once again play India Green.

Brief Scores – India Blue 320 for 8 (Shikha Dhawan 109, Ajinkya Rahane 95, Abhimanyu Mithun 2-64)beat India Green 209 (Kedar Jadhav 71, Yo Mahesh 3-34) by 111 runs.