A superbly-paced century by opener Shikhar Dhawan helped India Red score a 23-run win over India Blue in the first round of Deodhar Trophy at Dr. Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy Stadium here on Saturday.
Ambati Rayudu’s brilliance (92, 92b, 8x4, 2x6) and a blinder towards the end by Deepak Hooda (46, 27b, 2x4, 3x6) were not enough for India Blue, who was chasing a target of 328.
India Blue was off to a slow start, scoring 67 for two in the first 15 overs, and lost openers Mayank Agarwal and Mandeep Singh.
Even Rayudu was subdued to start with but once he hit Harpreet Singh Bhatia for two fours in one over to move to 30s, he really turned the heat on, especially on Akshay Karnewar, who can bowl left-arm spin and off-spin.
But, later, Karnewar picked the big wickets of Rishabh Pant and Rayudu, both caught and bowled. He then lured Krunal Pandya to hit straight to long-on, which put the brakes on the chase and helped India Red emerge winner.
Dhawal Kulkarni completed a hat-trick, dismissing Shardul Thakur with the last ball of 47th over and then sending back Hooda and Siddharth Kaul off the first two balls in the 49th over.
Earlier, the stage was perfectly set – with a beautiful batting track and an erratic bowling attack – for southpaw Dhawan to rediscover his form with a stroke-filled century (128, 122b, 13x4, 3x6) in front of BCCI senior selection panel chairman M. S. K. Prasad
Kaul bowled his heart out and was rewarded with a five-wicket haul. He was fast, accurate and showed lot of spirit on a pitch where others, including his captain Harbhajan Singh, struggled.
Dhawan was lucky to survive an easy run-out chance on 20 when Rayudu threw the ball from mid-on to the wrong end.
At the other end, captain Parthiv Patel (50, 48b, 9x4) was fluent from the start, essaying some classy drives on either side of the wicket. He waited for a moment, after being declared out caught near the boundary by Mandeep Singh off Kaul, doubting if the fielder had crossed the boundary.
Then, in the same over, Kaul bowled a perfect outswinger, inducing an outside edge off Shreevats Goswami that was caught brilliantly by a diving Pant.
But the joy of taking two quick wickets was short-lived for India Blue as the hard-hitting Ishank Jaggi (53, 51b, 6x4, 1x6) joined Dhawan to put on 103 runs for the third wicket.
BRIEF SCORECARD
India Red: 327 for eight in 50 overs (Shikhar Dhawan 128; Siddharth Kaul 5/59) beat India Blue: 304 in 48.2 overs (Ambati Rayudu 92; Akshay Karnewar 3/60)
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