Rajkot, Oct 2: Murali Vijay's career-best performance in limited overs cricket powered India B to a convincing win over India A in the final of the Airtel Challenger Series for the NKP Salve Trophy. After opting to bat first on a beautiful batting surface, India B posted the highest total of the tournament and then bowled out their opponents for 217 to win by 139 runs and take home the silverware.
In the afternoon, India B got off to a solid start with the openers Baba Aparajith and Vijay putting together a 50-run partnership, before they were separated. With the arrival of Cheteshwar Pujara to the crease, the India A bowlers had to contend with two in-form batsmen. While Vijay, who narrowly missed a hundred in the previous outing against Bengal, cashed in on his fine form and converted his seventh century in limited overs cricket into his career-best performance. Meanwhile, Pujara played yet another responsible and solid knock, before he was dismissed for the first time in the competition. The duo added 192 runs and kept the India A bowlers at bay for 27 overs. While both batsmen preferred to rotate the strike and keep the scoreboard ticking, they made sure they took full advantage of loose deliveries. Every once in a while, one also got to see some improvisations, like late cuts, steers to thirdman, among others.
Soon after he brought up his century (off 94 balls), Vijay cut loose. He had hit ten boundaries and three sixes in his first 100 runs; he went on to hit eight more boundaries and two sixes in his next 55 runs, before his dismissal in the 41st over.
Pujara too looked good for a third consecutive century, but that was not to be as he holed out to Yusuf Pathan off the bowling of Parvinder Awana in the 38th over; he made 79 from 80 balls and hit eight boundaries in the knock, which took his tournament aggregate to 361 runs in three innings.
The India B innings finished with a flourish as Kedar Jadhav (who walked out to bat after Pujara was dismissed) scored 60 off 42 balls to guide his team past the 350-run mark. Ravindra Jadeja, who walked out to bat after Vijay was dismissed, chipped in with a run-a-ball 25 and added 79 runs in the company of Jadhav.
For India A, Abhimanyu Mithun, Parvinder Awana and Pragyan Ojha were the wicket-takers.
India A's run-chase began on the back foot when they lost Robin Uthappa in the second over. Shikhar Dhawan and Ajinkya Rahane put the innings back on track with a 115-run partnership; and both batsmen went on to compile half-centuries. But once they were separated, the India B bowlers ran through the rest of the batting line-up. From 119 for one, India A slumped to 150 for six and were eventually bowled out for 217.
Only Manish Pandey (47) compiled a respectable score in the India A middle order, and it was his 67-run partnership for the seventh wicket with state mate Abhimanyu Mithun (24) that saw the team past the 200-run mark.
For India B, the wickets were shared between Baba Aparajith, Ravindra Jadeja, Sandeep Sharma and Stuart Binny. Aparajith and Jadeja did bulk of the damage by picking up three top-order wickets and that of the dangerous Yusuf Pathan later in the innings. Sharma dismissed Robin Uthappa with his very first delivery in one-day cricket and then returned to see the back of Pandey. Stuart Binny cleaned up the tail by picking up three wickets to wrap the innings.
Brief Scores: India B: 356/3 (Murali Vijay 155, Cheteshwar Pujara 79, Kedar Jadhav 60*) beat India A: 217 in 42.1 overs (Ajinkya Rahane 64, Shikhar Dhawan 61, Manish Pandey 47, Stuart Binny 3/26, Ravindra Jadeha 2/37, Baba Aparajith 2/38, Sandeep Sharma 2/57)
