Yuvraj shines again as India Blue win by 11 runs

Indore: Yuvraj Singh bludgeoned his way to a 56-ball 84 and gave the national selectors another timely reminder of his worth even as Abhishek Nayar slammed a 39-ball 75 to take India Blue to the final with a 11-run win over India Red in the NKP Salve Challenger Series here on Friday. Sent into bat, India Blue posted an imposing 345 for four before bowling out the opposition for 334 in 49.5 overs at the Holkar Cricket Stadium. The match was as good as over for India Red with the Yusuf Pathan-led side needing 38 in the last two overs. However, Umesh Yadav and Shabhaz Nadeem hit a flurry of boundaries to nearly lead their side to what would have been an improbable win. They collected 15 runs off Bhuvneshwar Kumar to bring the equation down to 23 of six balls. R Vinay Kumar was smashed for a six and a four before Umesh Yadav lost the steam. Earlier, both Yuvraj and opener P Akshat Reddy scored 84 runs each, but the left-handed skipper enjoyed a strike rate of over 150 as he toyed with the India Red bowlers hitting 11 boundaries, including five sixes. Reddy's knock came off 96 balls and was studded with five fours and two shots over the fence. Nayar then tormented the rival bowlers with his fiery unbeaten knock that came off a mere 39 balls, and had a strike rate that was close to 200. Yuvraj and Nayar plundered 151 runs in just 13 overs in their fourth wicket partnership, which ended with the former's run out in the last over of the innings. Yuvraj now has one century and three half-centuries in his last five matches. He was handed a lifeline by the BCCI by including him in the India A team for the series against the West Indies A. India Red innings: RV Uthappa c Yuvraj Singh b Vinay Kumar 9 A Mukund c Vinay Kumar b Saxena 83 SK Patel not out 68 KM Jadhav st Ojha b Chawla 49 YK Pathan* c Kumar b Yuvraj Singh 1 IR Jaggi b Chawla 34 Gurkeerat Singh c Chawla b Kumar 22 A Mithun b Saxena 11 S Nadeem c Reddy b Vinay Kumar 27 S Yadav b Vinay Kumar 2 UT Yadav b Vinay Kumar 19 Extras (LB-3, W-5, NB-1) 9 Total (all out in 49.5 overs) 334 Fall of wickets: 1-16, 2-150, 3-180, 4-248, 5-249, 6-262, 7-298, 8-307, 9-333, 10-334 Bowling: B Kumar 9-0-74-1, R Vinay Kumar 10.5-0-76-4, PP Chawla 8-0-55-2, Yuvraj Singh 9-0-47-1, AS Rajpoot 6-0-34-0, I Saxena 7-0-45-2.