Rajkot, Sep 30: India A beat India B in a pulsating encounter of the 2012-13 NKP Salver Challenger Trophy. After Shikhar Dhawan’s blazing 152 powered India A to a mammoth score of 335, India B fell short of the target by just four runs, with Cheteshwar Pujara’s unbeaten 158* (off 126 balls) going in vain.
For the second evening in a row, Dhawan sparkled. After Subramaniam Badrinath won the toss and elected to bat first, Dhawan and Robin Uthappa struck an opening stand of 146. Uthappa made 67 before he was caught by Cheteshwar Pujara off Praveen Kumar’s bowling in the 27th over. Ajinkya Rahane (2) disappointed, but with Dhawan making his way to a big score, and Dinesh Karthik hitting a blazing 40-ball 66* at the end, India A reached 335 for four in 50 overs.
India B, however, didn’t shy away from the daunting asking-rate. After opener S Anirudha set India B up with a solid 71-ball 63 at the top of the order, Pujara took the fight to India A. Pujara struck several fruitful partnerships with Robin Bist (38), B Aparajith (20) and Ravindra Jadeja (27) along the way, but couldn’t get India B past the victory target. Needing 16 to win off the last six deliveries, Pujara even pulled Abhimanyu Mithun for six, but in the end India B finished at 331 for five from 50 overs.
India B will now take on Bengal on October 1 at Rajkot to determine who will play India A in the 2012-12 NKP Salve Challenger Trophy final on October 2.
Brief Scores – India A 335/4 in 50.0 overs (Shikhar Dhawan 152, Robin Uthappa 67, Umesh Yadav 2/83) beat India B 331/5 in 50.0 overs (Cheteshwar Pujara 158*, Srikkanth Anirudha 63, Parvinder Awana 3/69) by four runs
