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Challenger Trophy 2008

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Chandan Newbie

Chandan

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Actually when the tournament started there used to be one India senior team which was our ODI side and then two junior sides likes India A and India B. The objective of the tournament was to test the youngsters by pitting them against our international players. Some selectors down the years muddled this theme and try to make the three teams almost equal in talent. This year the tournament is almost useless since all the international stars are already busy and are not even participating. So the selectors have chosen 42 most talented players in the country according to them and have divided it in three teams. That is how it is this year.

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India Blue beat Green, meet Red in final Cheteshwar Pujara waged a lone battle with a fighting 65 even as his team India Green crashed out of the Challenger Series for NKP Salve Trophy after a 19-run defeat to Blue in Cuttack on Saturday night. In Sunday's summit showdown, Blue will take on Red, unless the weather plays spoilsport. More... India Blue beat Green, meet Red in final October 25, 2008 21:33 IST Last Updated: October 26, 2008 11:00 IST Cheteshwar Pujara waged a lone battle with a fighting 65 even as his team, India Green, crashed out of the Challenger Series, for the NKP Salve Trophy, after a 19-run defeat to India Blue, in Cuttack on Saturday night. In Sunday's summit showdown, Blue will take on Red, unless the weather plays spoilsport. The Indian Meteorological Department forecast, by the way, predicts "thunderstorm with rain" for Sunday and Monday. Reduced to a 45 overs-a-side affair following an hour's delayed start thanks to overnight rainfall, Green put Blue in to bat and the reigning champions were restricted to 218 in 44.2 overs. Fresh from his 94 against Red in the opening encounter, Robin Uthappa top-scored for his team with a dodgy 76, which was ridden with a couple of missed chances. In reply, Green began erratically with their top-order cut to size by Irfan Pathan [images] and Ashok Dinda. But Pujara and Yusuf Pathan got their act together in the middle looking to see Green through. However, Ravichandran Ashwin again proved to be the partnership breaker. The Tamil Nadu off-spinner took Yusuf before gobbling up Rudra Pratap Singh and Pujara. Saurashtra batsman Pujara hit nine fours in his 99-ball stint. Ashwin finished with three for 46 as Green were bundled out for 199. Irfan and Dinda gave Blue the perfect start, sending their top three batsmen -- Naman Ojha, Shikhar Dhawan and Suresh Raina -- back in 7.4 overs. Bengal pacer Dinda was particularly mesmerising, extracting bounce and pace from the otherwise slow Barabati track. Dinda, with his very fourth ball, showed the door to Raina, who was looking good on 16 (17 balls) having hit two boundaries. He then bowled two consecutive maidens. Mohammad Kaif and Rajat Bhatia only compounded their miseries as the required run-rate began to go North-ward. Kaif (7) failed to reach double digits, while Bhatia got out at 10 trying for a big one. It was then left for just-in Yusuf and the set Pujara to take the match forward. Pujara, meanwhile, completed his half-century while Yusuf began to explode with a huge six over long-on with the target looking nearer. Just when the pair started to look dangerous for Blue, the partnership was broken. Ashwin provided the breakthrough, having Yusuf caught and bowled. The duo added 59 runs from 58 balls for the sixth wicket. Ashwin, it may be recalled, had provided the vital breakthrough in the opening match against Red, when the off-spinner dismissed Murali Vijay, who was looking for a match-winning innings, on 89. Earlier, Yuvraj had another forgettable outing. The Punjab batsman departed in a huff, having faced eight balls, for three. Blue's captain, who scored six in their first match, was bowled in by a Rudra Pratap sizzler. Uthappa, making full use of the two lives -- one when he was castled only for the delivery to be adjudged a no-ball by Shavir Tarapore, and then when Rudra Pratap dropped a catch -- raced to another half-century in the tournament. The Karnataka batsman's innings finally came to an end when local boy Pragyan trapped him leg before wicket. Uthappa hit three sixes and five fours in his 88-ball stay. Yogesh Takawale made a fluent 34 (50) which included three boundaries and one over-boundary. The promising Maharashtra wicketkeeper-batsman got himself engaged in a 58-run fifth wicket partnership with Uthappa. Scorecard India Blue Virat Kohli b RP Singh 9 Robin Uthappa lbw b Ojha 76 Yuvraj Singh [images] b RP Singh 3 Dinesh Kaarthick lbw b Gony 10 Arjun Yadav lbw b Pankaj 16 Yogesh Takawale c Naman b Yusuf 34 Irfan Pathan b Yusuf 28 R Ashwin c Gony b Yusuf 10 Pradeep Sangwan not out 6 Chetanya Nanda run out 8 Ashok Dinda b Gony 0 Extras:: (LB-1, W-11, NB-6) 18 Total: (All out in 44.2 overs) 218 Fall of wickets: 1-12, 2-19, 3-56, 4-87, 5-145, 6-166, 7-201, 8-202, 9-217 Bowling: Pankaj Singh 9-1-27-1, RP Singh 8-0-56-2, Manpreet Gony 6.2-1-18-2, Pragyan Ojha 8-0-60-1, Bhatia 7-0-35-0, Yusuf Pathan 6-0-21-3. India Green: Naman Ojha c Takawale b Pathan 11 Shikhar Dhawan c Kohli b Pathan 7 Suresh Raina c Sangwan b Dinda 16 Mohammad Kaif lbw b Nanda 7 Cheteshwar Pujara c Nanda b Ashwin 65 Rajat Bhatia c Takawale b Nanda 10 Yusuf Pathan c&b Ashwin 34 Rudra Pratap Singh c Karthik b Ashwin 11 Manpreet Gony c Kohli b Sangwan 9 Pragyan Ojha run out (Takawale) 1 Pankaj Singh not out 5 Extras: (b-4, lb-12, w- 6, nb-1) 23 Total: (all out; 44 overs) 199 Fall of wickets: 1-10 (Dhawan, 2.2 ov), 2-39 (NV Ojha, 6.2 ov), 3-40 (Raina, 7.4 ov), 4-77 (Kaif, 18.3 ov), 5-95 (Bhatia, 26.2 ov), 6-154 (Pathan, 35.6 ov), 7-174 (Singh, 39.5 ov), 8-182 (Pujara, 41.5 ov), 9-189 (PP Ojha, 42.5 ov), 10-199 (Gony, 43.6 ov) Bowling: Pathan 9-0-30-2, Sangwan 8-0-39-1, Dinda 8-2-32-1, Nanda 9-0-31-2, Ashwin 9-0-46-3, Yuvraj 1-0-5-0.

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Of a mistaken identity and an embarrasment : A blooper from Srikanth headed selection panel In a curious case of mistaken identity that could cause serious embarrassment to national selectors, a Saurashtra Cricket Association official on Sunday claimed that little known Punjab player Ravi Inder Singh was thought to be prolific all-rounder Ravindrasinh Jadeja and got selected for the Challenger Trophy. More... Of a mistaken identity and an embarrasment October 26, 2008 16:29 IST In a curious case of mistaken identity that could cause serious embarrassment to national selectors, a Saurashtra Cricket Association official on Sunday claimed that little known Punjab player Ravi Inder Singh was thought to be prolific all-rounder Ravindrasinh Jadeja and got selected for the Challenger Trophy. Saurashtra left-hander, Jadeja, last week scored an unbeaten 155 along with captain Cheteshwar Pujara (309) against Mumbai in the West Zone CK Nayudu Trophy at Rajkot. While Pujara got a place in the Challenger Series, Jadeja was left out. The selectors named Ravi Inder in India Blue side assuming he's the Saurashtra all-rounder, a Saurashtra Cricket Association official told PTI. One of the selectors, in fact, conceded that it's a blooper from their part but there was hardly any time to get it corrected. Ravi Inder played in Blue's first match against the Red and scored 17 before being bowled by Laxmipathy Balaji. For Blue's second match, captain Yuvraj Singh [images] replaced Ravi Inder with Hyderabad batsman Arjun Yadav. In fact, even the scorers during the first match confused Ravi Inder with Ravindra Jadeja. 20-year-old Ravi Inder, a left-handed batsman who also bowls off spin, played just six List A and six First Class matches. Surprised at the exclusion of Jadeja from the Challenger Series, former India selector and coach Anshuman Gaekwad said, "I wonder why he does not figure among the 42 players representing Blue, Red and Green." In September-October, Jadeja was picked for the unofficial 'Test' series against New Zealand [images] A. The all-rounder played one out of two 'Tests' and had a match haul of three wickets and 37 runs. Jadeja was part of the Under-19 team that lost the 2006 World Cup to Pakistan and played for champions Rajasthan Royals [images] in the inaugural Indian Premier League [images] (IPL).

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India Red shot out for 151 by India Blue Barring a brief resistance by Praveen Kumar and captain S Badrinath midway in their innings, India Red fell like a house of cards to be bowled out for a meager 151 by India Blue in the final of the Challenge Series for the NKP Salve Trophy at Barabati Stadium in Cuttack on Sunday. India Blue had successfully defended targets in their two games, and if India Reds decision to bat first was prompted by a thought of breaking that trend, it surely didnt work, as they were bowled out for 151 in 43 overs. More... Dull Red bowled out for 151 Cricinfo staff October 26, 2008 India Red 151 (Badrinath 56, Praveen 35, Trivedi 3-23) v India Blue Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details 317175.jpg S Badrinath's patient 56 was the best score of a poor India Red total of 151 in 43 overs © Cricinfo Ltd. India Blue had successfully defended targets in their two games, and if India Red’s decision to bat first was prompted by a thought of breaking that trend, it surely didn’t work. They were bowled out for 151 in 43 overs. Ashok Dinda and Siddharth Trivedi struck the early blows to leave Red at 72 for 6, and if not for a 66-run stand between captain S Badrinath and Praveen Kumar, Red might have well folded up for much less. Things didn't go to plan from the start for Red. After playing off a maiden over first up, Parthiv Patel was lbw to Dinda in the second over. Rohit Sharma, whose century against India Green helped Red to the final, was teased with deliveries outside off stump from Dinda, and the persistence paid off when he edged a drive to Virat Kohli at second slip. Badrinath and M Vijay then played with caution to see off the new ball. The first ten overs brought just 25, but Vijay decided to step up the rate against a tiring Irfan Pathan in the 11th, taking a six and a four in an over that fetched 12. Aggression got the better of Vijay; trying to charge Trivedi and loft him over his head, he only nicked the ball to Dinesh Karthik. Jaydev Shah was bowled off an inside edge, and Trivedi got his third when he foxed Abhishek Nayar with a slower delivery – committed to a back-foot drive, the batsman didn’t middle it well and the ball lobbed to Kohli at cover. It was time for Red to rebuild, but Badrinath lost another partner when Piyush Chawla’s attempted strike over mid-on was caught by Chetanya Nanda, running back from mid-off. Badrinath, though, found support from Praveen. Badrinath scored just four from his first 20 deliveries, and relied on nudging the ball around for singles. Praveen's entry put in some momentum; he hit Ashwin for a straight six and in the next over both he and Badrinath took boundaries off Nanda. Praveen went along at a good clip, but he was dismissed by a straighter one from Nanda. With the tailenders exposed, Badrinath had to keep the bulk of the strike. However, he departed soon after Praveen, beaten by an offspinner from R Ashwin as he attempted to cut the ball fine. Ashwin, with eight wickets, is likely to finish the top wicket-taker in the tournament, unless the likes of Chawla and Praveen manage to catch up when Red begin their defence. © Cricinfo

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