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Defending champions Rajasthan have virtually sealed the Ranji Trophy title, after bowling out a Tamil Nadu batting line-up that crumbled under the pressure of big runs

The Report by Nagraj Gollapudi in Chennai22-Jan-2012
ScorecardDinesh Karthik scored 150 but it will most likely be in a losing cause•K SivaramanDefending champions Rajasthan have virtually sealed the Ranji Trophy title, and are set to become only the fifth team to win the crown in successive years. They bowled Tamil Nadu out on the third day at Chepauk, securing a massive first-innings lead, which will be enough to see them pronounced winners. Taking advantage of the Tamil Nadu batsmen’s fragile mindsets, over-eagerness to play attacking strokes and false shot selections, Rajasthan bundled out Tamil Nadu in 102.4 overs, less than half the overs the visitors had consumed during their first innings. Sitting on a 326-run lead, Rajasthan did not enforce the follow-on and finished the day 347 runs ahead.The Tamil Nadu batsmen have only themselves to blame for the failure. After their top-order batsmen, M Vijay, Abhinav Mukund and S Badrinath, had perished playing across the line on Saturday, you would expect the rest of the batsmen to learn from those mistakes. They did not.With a midwicket and short midwicket in place, K Vasudevadas decided to play, of all shots, an uppish flick to the leg side off Rituraj Singh. Vasudevadas had walked a yard out of his crease, indicating he had already made up his mind to play a stroke, and Gajendra Singh accepted the catch at midwicket.Dinesh Karthik and R Prasanna stayed positive, taking advantage of the innocuous lines and lengths on offer from Rajasthan’s change bowlers: Sumit Mathur and left-arm spinner Gajendra. Prasanna, who had scored a crucial century in the semi-final against Mumbai, swept Gajendra frequently. He was into the 40s in no time; the run-rate was three runs per over; and the partnership was worth 76.Then, Karthik committed the worse mistake of the match.He pushed Mathur towards mid-on, called for a single and set off quickly; but instead of running straight he ran across the pitch, into Prasanna’s lane. Though the batsmen averted a collision, Prasanna, who did not help himself by ball-watching, had been slowed down. Karthik dived in at the non-striker’s end, but the fielder, Rituraj, had missed the stumps by a long distance, and Dinesh Yagnik collected the wide throw and caught Prasanna short.As he walked back, Prasanna slammed his bat into his pads in disgust. The best batting line-up in domestic cricket, containing several batsmen tipped to be future India players, was crumbling.Karthik somewhat made up for his mistake by top-scoring for Tamil Nadu with 150. Having kept wickets for eight sessions, he knew the pitch was slow and waited for the ball to come on. After lunch, he square drove Pankaj Singh for four, and, when Pankaj went around the wicket and pitched fuller, cover drove for another boundary. Then, he stepped out against Rituraj and sent the ball sailing over long-on for the first six of the Tamil Nadu innings, bringing up 3000 runs in the Ranji Trophy with the shot. A tap behind square in the next over took Karthik to his third century of the season, and his second in a Ranji final.Tamil Nadu lost two more wickets at the other end, and with the match slipping from their grasp, the hosts’ frustration became apparent. Tamil Nadu’s captain L Balaji, who looked solid in a 60-run partnership with Karthik, was adjudged lbw by umpire Vineet Kulkarni when there was a clear inside edge. Balaji was shocked by the decision, showed his bat to Kulkarni to indicate he had got an edge, and then threw his bat and gloves to the ground once he crossed the ropes.Karthik remained unruffled and continued playing his strokes when Rajasthan took the second new ball. He scored most of his runs with aggressive shots through the off side and eventually fell inside edging an attempted drive off Mathur onto his stumps. J Kaushik hooked Mathur down fine-leg’s throat to end the inningsRajasthan, with the title all but secure, decided to bat again, and will tomorrow be able to celebrate having rattled a line-up as strong as Tamil Nadu’s with the weight of big runs.

On a turning track where the ball kept low, Kolkata’s batsmen all chipped in to put up the highest total of the tournament so far, which proved sufficient against Deccan Chargers

The Bulletin by Siddarth Ravindran11-Apr-2011
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Jacques Kallis made his second consecutive half-century•AFPIt could be the overdose of cricket, or the absence of their adored hometown hero Sourav Ganguly, or just that it was a Monday night; whatever the reason, it was only a sparse crowd at Eden Gardens as Kolkata Knight Riders eased to victory in their first home game of the season. On a turning track where the ball kept low, Kolkata’s batsmen all chipped in to put up the highest total of the tournament so far, which proved sufficient against Deccan Chargers.Jacques Kallis provided another launchpad for the innings, with a controlled half-century filled with off-driven boundaries. He wasn’t overly troubled by the new-ball attack of Dale Steyn and Ishant Sharma, but the introduction of spin slowed the scoring as Pragyan Ojha and Amit Mishra teased the batsmen on a helpful pitch.Kallis’ opening partner Manvinder Bisla’s scratchy stay ended soon after the fifty stand came up, as he missed a straighter one from Mishra. Kallis employed the sweep effectively against the spinners, and started to punish the part-time offerings of JP Duminy and Ravi Teja. A powerful swipe off Duminy got him to a second consecutive fifty, but he perished next ball as he attempted to clear midwicket again.Gautam Gambhir, back in the familiar territory of No. 3 after batting down the order in the opening match, hardly needed power as he picked off boundaries behind square. Manoj Tiwary’s batting was more muscular, slogging two big leg-side sixes in one Duminy over. Yusuf Pathan also provided the Kolkata fans something to cheer as he unleashed his brand of power-hitting to club three boundaries off Steyn’s final two overs.Mishra was the best of the Deccan bowlers, mixing in the googlies and sliders with his stock legspinner to trouble the Kolkata batting. Gambhir is widely reputed to be among the best players of spin in the country, and Mishra had the satisfaction of foxing him with a delivery that slid on to take middle stump. Mishra ended with 4-0-19-2 despite bowling two overs at the end of the innings.The lack of pace in the Kolkata attack worked in their favour during the chase as the ball didn’t come on to the bat, making it difficult for the Deccan batsmen to play their shots. Left-arm spinner Iqbal Abdulla squeezed the runs early on and he bowled Ishank Jaggi, who attempted an awful slog after struggling to 3 off eight balls. Soon after, Eoin Morgan pulled off a stunning piece of fielding to send back Shikhar Dhawan – diving to stop the ball at cover, and rifling in a direct hit while still on his knees.The Deccan batting depends heavily on their three overseas signings: Kumar Sangakkara, JP Duminy and Dan Christian. Sangakkara and Duminy fell cheaply, both providing catching practice to Kallis in the deep, and it was left to little-known Bharat Chipli to keep the Deccan challenge going with a series of boundaries. He too gave Kallis a simple catch, and with half the side dismissed and the asking rate around 13, there was too much for Christian to do. He unleashed a few big hits, but by that stage the biggest worry for Kolkata was the blow to Kallis’ chin as he attempted yet another catch.

Paul Grayson, the Essex coach, has admitted the 2011 season fell well below the club’s expectations

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Sep-2011Paul Grayson, the Essex coach, has admitted the 2011 season fell well below the club’s expectations and he has already started planning for next summer with the signing of Derbyshire allrounder Greg Smith.The county finished seventh in Division Two of the County Championship and failed to qualify for the knockout stages of both the Clydesdale Bank 40 and Friends Life t20. The team suffered having failed to fill the hole left by Danish Kaneria, the Pakistan legspinner, and early-season attempts to sign Peter Siddle were unsuccessful. Grayson is now looking ahead and picked out the performances of a number of youngsters – such as legspinner Tom Craddock and left-arm quick Reece Topley – as a sign of a brighter future.”At the start of 2011, myself and the cricket Committee set the objectives of gaining promotion to Division One and securing a one-day trophy,” Grayson said. “Defeats in the opening two Championship games have cost us dearly and from then on we were always playing catch-up.”There is no denying the fact that a number of players have been inconsistent this season,” he added. “However, we have a very talented and determined squad with a number of exciting players coming through the ranks. This season has seen the arrival of the likes of Reece Topley, Tymal Mills, Adam Wheater and Tom Craddock. We hope we can further progress the young blood we have at the Club and develop the winning combination that was missing in 2011.”Over the winter months the squad will take a much needed break and will prepare for what we hope will be a successful 2012 season across all formats of the game. We have to aim for promotion, it’s where we need and want to be and despite comments elsewhere, the County Championship remains our number one priority.”Smith, meanwhile, will bring some experience to the middle order plus the ability to bowl both seam-up and offspin. “Greg is a cricketer that I admire. He is a very talented all-rounder and has a great character for the dressing room which I feel will benefit us,” Grayson said. “He is a very good cricketer who will fit in well with the team and I look forward to working with him at Essex.”

A brilliant, belligerent century by Paul Stirling wasn’t enough to take Ireland to victory over Pakistan in the second ODI

The Bulletin by Gerard Siggins30-May-2011
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details Paul Stirling’s ton came off 94 balls•Associated PressA brilliant, belligerent century by Paul Stirling wasn’t enough to take Ireland to victory over Pakistan in the second ODI. A solid innings of 64 by Younis Khan ensured the visitors were not embarrassed and took the two match RSA Series in Belfast 2-0.Stirling played an innings that alternated between control and raw aggression as he racked up his third ODI century, his first against a Full Member. It helped set Pakistan a target of 239, which they achieved with eight balls to spare, but not before their most experienced batsmen rescued them from a tricky situation as Ireland’s celebrated fielders tightened the screws.Stirling’s innings showed great maturity for a man who has his critics in Irish cricket. He has too often been a player who raced to thrilling thirties and forites, but rarely went on. His previous highest score against a Full Member was just 52.But an Irish record one-day score of 177 against Canada in September showed what could be achieved and he round off the recent World Cup with a blistering ton against Netherlands. That innings was the third-fastest century in the competition’s history, behind only Kevin O’Brien and Matthew Hayden.He thrashed three sixes and seven fours in his innings of 109, which backboned Ireland’s total of 238 for eight.On the pitch used for Saturday’s rain affected game – and after a day of warm sun in between – William Porterfield opted to take first use.Ireland persevered with their decision to promote Ed Joyce to open, although the Sussex batsman was rarely fluent as Junaid Khan and Umar Gul made use of the overcast conditions.Stirling, meanwhile, played in his usual manner and was 38 when Ireland passed fifty.Misbah turned to the spin of Saeed Ajmal and Mohammed Hafeez to slow things down, and was immediately rewarded with the wicket of Joyce. Ajmal extracted some extra bounce and Joyce edged to Mohammed Salman with the total on 65.Porterfield joined Stirling and was at the other end as he reached his fifty off 43 balls. The pair hoisted the hundred in the 22nd over when Stirling hoicked the ball over wide mid-on for six.Pakistan preferred Hammad Azam to Tanvir Ahmed and the Rawalpindi bowler’s gentle medium proved useful in the conditions. But it was Mohammed Hafeez who dismissed Porterfield, bowled for 15.Stirling was watchful to the spinners and the rate slowed as Ajmal extracted turn on his way to 4 for 35. Stirling raced into the nineties with a sumptuous cover drive but took six more overs to reach 100, which he did with a straight drive past the bowler Azam. He passed the century mark in 94 balls.Rain – which threatened several times – eventually forced the players off for 15 minutes, but no overs were lost.Alex Cusack played a typical innings as second foil to a more aggressive batsman, and took the total to 174 before he fell charging Ajmal. He fell in the second over of the Powerplay, which Ireland struggled to exploit.Stirling was dropped by Junaid who made an awful hash of a gentle hook to fine leg off Saeed. But Junaid made amends next ball when he bowled Stirling for 109. Gary Wilson came out to cheers in his 100th appearance for Ireland, but although he hit the last two balls of the Powerplay for four, the five-over period yielded a miserable 23 for 2.Wilson hit a breezy 33 off 25 balls, but Ireland’s total was probably 30-40 short of expectations as Pakistan prevented them accelerating at the death.Mohammed Hafeez fell in the second over as he mistimed a drive off Trent Johnston, but ODI debutant Azhar Ali and Taufeeq Umar steadied the ship in the face of accurate bowling from Boyd Rankin. The big Warwickshire man extracted bounce and pace in his nine overs, claiming Azhar to a sharp slip catch.At 80 for 3 Pakistan needed steady hands and were able to turn to Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq. The pair have played 300 ODIs between them – more than the whole Irish team – and were able to dictate the pace from there.The partnership consolidated, scoring one boundary and 30 runs off the first ten overs, but as the clouds loomed they put in a mini-charge to ensure they went ahead of the Duckworth-Lewis calculation.With the score on 148 John Mooney induced the thinnest of nicks off Misbah, who seemed reluctant to depart, but his wicket gave Ireland renewed hope. The feisty Umar Akmal came in and took the game by the scruff though, smashing three sixes in an innings of 60 off 48 balls.All the while Younis Khan was accumulating while Ireland fought for every run. Porterfield at cover saved a dozen runs as Stirling, Joyce and Mooney ensured the ring was hard to pierce.Having hit just two boundaries getting to 48, Younis dragged the ball into the crowd at midwicket to complete his fifty. He perished chipping to Kevin O’Brien off Cusack trying to hit the winning runs.Stirling was named as Man of the Match, but it was Pakistan’s day.

Tottenham Hostpur have been dealt a potential setback in their bid to bring Denzel Dumfries to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in the summer transfer window.

What’s the talk?

That’s according to a report by Italian publication Gazzetta dello Sport (via Sport Witness), who claim that Bayern Munich are growing increasingly keen on the idea of a move for the Inter Milan wing-back this summer, with the Bundesliga side known to be looking for a player in the 26-year-old’s position, and said to be impressed by the Netherlands international’s growth and dedication as well as his technique and athletics.

[snack-amp-story url= “https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/read-the-latest-spurs-news-transfer-rumours-gossip-and-much-more” title= “Read the latest Spurs news!”]

However, the report goes on to state that Tottenham are also extremely keen on the versatile defender, with Antonio Conte’s side thought to be leading the race of Premier League clubs interested in a move for the former PSV Eindhoven starlet this summer.

Paratici must move

With Conte’s desire to sign a new right wing-back this summer being well documented, it is easy to see why the Italian has taken a particular shine to the Inter Milan defender, as Dumfries has been in magnificent form for the Nerazzurri ever since his €15m (£12.5m) move to the San Siro last August.

Indeed, over his 30 Serie A appearances this season, the £34m-rated Dutchman has proven a constant threat on Simone Inzaghi’s right flank, scoring five goals, registering five assists and creating five big chances for his teammates, as well as taking an average of one shot, making 0.8 key passes and completing 0.5 dribbles per game.

The £51k-per-week 26-year-old has also impressed in metrics more typical of his position, making an average of 0.2 interceptions, 0.9 tackles, 0.6 clearances, 0.4 crosses and winning 3.9 duels – at a success rate of 53% – per fixture.

These returns have seen the player who Fuad Alakbarov dubbed an “exciting” talent average a very respectable SofaScore match rating of 6.86 – playing a key role in the Nerazzurri’s push to retain their Serie A title this season.

As such, it is clear for all to see just how well Dumfries would be suited to Conte’s right wing-back role at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, leading us to believe that Paratici simply must do everything he can to beat Bayern Munich to the €30m (£25m) signing of the player who Siavoush Fallahi dubbed a “difference maker” this summer.

AND in other news: Sources: Spurs can now seal cut-price deal for £116k-p/w “monster”, Paratici must move

Having come back strongly in the second Test against West Indies, Sri Lanka are likely to field an unchanged team for the decisive third Test against West Indies in Pallakele

Sa'adi Thawfeeq in Pallekele30-Nov-2010Having come back strongly in the second Test against West Indies, Sri Lanka are likely to field an unchanged team for the decisive third Test against West Indies in Pallakele.”Barring injuries not many changes are likely,” the home captain Kumar Sangakkara said. “We will have to see how the guys pull up after today’s practice. We will probably decide whether a change is needed in the spin department, but other than that I think we are fine.”Sri Lanka who have not lost a home Test series since 2006 and Sangakkara said he would be disappointed if his team could not win this series, tied 0-0 going into the decider.”The series will be decided in this Test, provided there’s play on all five days,” Sangakkara said. “We have to be positive and keep thinking that we can beat West Indies by playing some good cricket. We have improved in the last Test and we need to keep getting better and hopefully we need to play some solid cricket.”It looks a good wicket but there’s still a bit of rain. Unfortunately with the weather around you have to see what it does. It looks drier than the R Premadasa Stadium wicket. In Kandy, conditions can change early morning. It helps all the bowlers from the first day onwards. It’s good to bat on. It will be a wicket where it’ll be difficult to bat on in the first hour maybe, but will probably get better.”Hopefully it will be better than R Premadasa, in the sense more bounce and pace, so that batsmen can play shots even on the first day. Other than that, I think, it will help all the bowlers. We are expecting it to break up sooner and help our spinners.”Sangakkara compared the new stadium to the ground in Centurion, South Africa. “I honestly think that this will be the nicest stadium of all when it’s finished. It looks fantastic. The view for the crowd is nice. Once it’s finished it will be nice. When they started it was like Centurion. It’s a long walk and it’s a beautiful ground.”

The contest between the two top teams in the world is heating up, and some of it is boiling over, with Paul Harris alleging that Sreesanth must have said something personal for Graeme Smith to react the way he did

Sidharth Monga at Kingsmead28-Dec-2010The contest between the two top teams in the world is heating up, and some of it is boiling over, with Paul Harris alleging that “it must have been something personal [said by Sreesanth] for Graeme Smith to react the way he did”. The incident Harris talked about was when Smith was seen pointing his bat at Sreesanth, and sharing stern words. It came three balls after Sreesanth had hit Smith on the finger with a sharp delivery, and there seemed to have been words exchanged then. Harris, however, made the allegation in the good faith that Smith doesn’t react on the field unless a personal comment is made to him.”For Grame to act the way he did – we all know Graeme really well – he doesn’t react to situations like that,” Harris said. “If it was personal – and I have heard it was – I think we should cut that out of the game.”I know Sreesanth has said a few personal things on the field, which is not great and we don’t condone that. If he wants to do that, he can do that. It must have been something personal for Graeme to react the way he did.”This was not the first time that words had been exchanged in this series. It was not even the first time on this particular day, for that matter. When Zaheer Khan came out to bat and swung and missed twice, Lonwabo Tsotsobe and Smith were in his ear. When Ishant Sharma got out, the umpires were not sure he had done so to a legitimate delivery, and Ishant waited next to the South African huddle for the third umpire to relay his verdict. There were words spoken then too, and Ishant was seen turning back and responding to what looked like a verbal send-off.VVS Laxman was quick to mention the earlier incidents when the Smith-Sreesanth run-in was brought up, but also sought to play things down. “I am not sure what happened but saying that, it’s a series between two top teams,” he said. “In a keen tussle like that, it is bound to happen. It’s not only when Sreesanth said something to Smith, but even their bowlers came at us hard. It’s bound to happen because both the teams want to win this game badly. [These things happen] when the intensity at which the game is played is high.”Harris seemed to be in agreement with the intensity, but repeated the bit about getting personal. “The game has been played in very good spirit,” he said. “It’s No. 1 v No. 2. Every now and then it will boil over, it’s Test cricket. That’s what people want to see. Even we want to see it played hard on the field, but not getting personal. That’s where we draw the line, it’s a fine line.”

ICC expresses disappointment after side doesn’t show up to collect its Spirit of Cricket Award

Nagraj Gollapudi in London13-Sep-2011The Indian team’s non-appearance at the ICC Awards ceremony in London on Monday night has sparked off a controversy of sorts with the ICC expressing its “disappointment” and the team management saying it was informed too late to change existing plans.Not a single Indian player or official attended the event and there was no one to collect the Spirit of Cricket Award, which MS Dhoni won for his decision to send back Ian Bell during the second Test of the summer at Trent Bridge.”We are disappointed,” Haroon Lorgat, the ICC chief executive, told ESPNcricinfo. “They have had a great year [before the England series] and it was an occasion to celebrate. It was a missed opportunity.”According to Lorgat, India also missed out on attracting more sympathisers after a disastrous England tour where they have lost both the Test and ODI series. “It was a good opportunity to show their sporting character despite them losing on this tour.”Indian team manager Shivlal Yadav explained that he received a call from the ICC on Monday afternoon. “I had already told the boys that it was an off day. So now how could I have asked them to suddenly change their plans? Hence I told them (ICC) that they should not keep the table free for us,” Yadav said.The BCCI’s chief administrative officer Ratnakar Shetty said the board did not want to comment on the issue. “Lorgat can say whatever he wants to. We don’t want to comment on it,” he told the .Interestingly, in 2009 Dhoni failed to collect his ODI Cricketer of the Year Award even though he was in Johannesburg, the venue of the ceremony. Last year’s event was in Bangalore, with the Indian team in attendance albeit in denims and T-shirts. Raising more eyebrows, though, was the absence of the BCCI’s top brass, including N Srinivasan, then its secretary and currently its president-elect.The decision to hold this year’s awards in London was taken the ICC’s executive board on February 16; it is understood that the ICC then sent an email to the BCCI outlining the various details of the awards ceremony, to be held on September 12. On August 24, two days before the nominees’ list was formally made public in Canterbury by Clive Lloyd, head of the selection panel for the awards, the ICC sent another e-mail to the Indian board informing that three Indians – MS Dhoni (Spirit of Cricket), Sachin Tendulkar (Cricketer of the Year) and Gautam Gambhir (ODI Cricketer of the Year) – had been nominated in three different categories.On September 7, the ICC sent a fresh e-mail to Srinivasan’s office reminding him about the awards and thereby extending another invitation for the Indians to attend them. It is believed that the Indian team, which was originally scheduled to leave for Cardiff, where it plays its final one-day match on September 16, had in fact postponed its trip by a day, leading to speculation that the players would attend the ceremony.”We hold the awards’ night at a time convenient for the cricketers,” Lorgat said. “When we sat earlier in the year to decide on the dates for this year’s awards, the choice was between London and Colombo. But we felt that England-India would be a marquee series and therefore [it would be] apt to host it in London.”Unofficial estimates put the ICC’s expenditure on the ceremony at close to US$ 1 million.

Shane Warne believes Ricky Ponting is the best man to captain Australia to an Ashes triumph this summer, despite his criticism of Ponting’s field placements last week

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Oct-2010Shane Warne believes Ricky Ponting is the best man to captain Australia to an Ashes triumph this summer, despite his criticism of Ponting’s field placements last week. Warne wrote on his own website that there was no rift between him and Ponting, and that “Never at any stage did I say or imply that Ricky’s time as captain is up”.However, the former fast bowler Geoff Lawson has raised the idea of taking the captaincy off Ponting so he can focus on his batting. The issue has occupied plenty of airtime on sports talkback radio stations over the past week, but Warne doesn’t agree with the many callers who think Ponting’s reign should end.”Ricky, to me, is the right man to lead Australia for the Ashes,” Warne wrote. “It’s a great opportunity for him to show his leadership and captaincy skills. He also looks in super touch with the bat; I am sure he’s going to fill his boots this summer.”This Ashes series is going to be the biggest of his and the Australian team’s career. I think Ricky is at his best when he shows his Tassie devil side which is, aggressive with a dash of flair.”Although Ponting was disappointed with Warne’s tweet about the fields set for Nathan Hauritz, the pair later made up by SMS. Warne said he found it “staggering, but not surprising” that his original tweet was reported as a falling-out between he and his former team-mate Ponting.”My tweet about Ricky’s fields for Nathan Hauritz for two overs has been portrayed as a rift between myself and the Australian captain and journos have tried to start a slanging match between us; what rubbish. Commentators on the match, cricket journalists and even the Indian captain, MS Dhoni, have agreed with my tweet. It was an observation, not an attack!”

India Green’s bowlers, led by Punjab legspinner Sarabjit Ladda, set up a comfortable six-wicket victory against India Red in Indore

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Oct-2010
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
India Green’s bowlers, led by Punjab legspinner Sarabjit Ladda, set up a comfortable six-wicket victory against India Red in Indore. After the bowlers had dismissed India Red for 185, S Badrinath led the chase with a fluent half-century as his team won with 13 overs to spare.Ladda and Rajasthan fast bowler Pankaj Singh had shared seven wickets between them as India Red collapsed from 106 for 2 to 185 all out. They were earlier off to a poor start after electing to bat when Manish Pandey was trapped leg before by Dhawal Kulkarni in the third over. Parthiv Patel was looking solid at the other end as he drove and cut the seamers for boundaries. However, Pankaj struck a big blow when he had Virat Kohli caught behind for 7.Then followed the best partnership of the innings between Patel and Dinesh Karthik. The duo added 57 in 9.2 overs before Karthik was run out going for a sharp single off Ladda. That was the opening India Green needed, and Ladda barged into it, picking up the next four wickets to finish with career-best figures. He had Saurabh Tiwary caught at point, and then lured Yusuf Pathan, Monish Mishra and Parthiv into holing out down the ground. With Parthiv falling for a well-made 86 off 100 deliveries, India Red had slumped to 162 for 7, having lost four wickets for 56 runs in 14.2 overs. Pankaj – who made his ODI debut against Sri Lanka earlier this year in Harare – returned to clean up the tail to finish with 3 for 36.India Green were off to a quick start before Vinay Kumar removed the openers, having Naman Ojha caught at short point by Kohli and then trapping S Anirudha in front. Meanwhile, Badrinath was displaying his repertoire of strokes at the other end, taking Ashok Dinda for three boundaries in an over. He pulled a short ball outside off behind square, drove the next one back of a length through the covers, and finished with a pleasing on-drive to a full delivery.Rohit Sharma joined Badrinath for an 87-run stand, the highest of the match. He matched Badrinath in stroke-making, unfurling the cut, the pull, the drive and the flick with languid ease. He had moved to 48 before he was bowled by a slower one from Dinda, missing the line as it went through the gap between bat and pad. Dinda got Badrinath leg before in his next over for 67, but it was too little, too late for India Red, as India Green got the bonus point for their easy victory.