Yuvraj Singh bludgeoned his way to a 56-ball 84, giving 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 an 11-run win over India Red in the NKP Salve Challenger Series here on Friday. Sent into bat, India Blue posted an imposing 345/4 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 could 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 steam. Chasing a formidable total, India Red gave a good account of themselves but fell short. Abhinav Mukund top-scored with 83 off 86 balls, hitting nine fours and a six. Smit Patel made 67 but retired hurt after facing 83 balls. Kedar Jadhav smashed 49 off 40 balls with the help of five fours and a six. The chase only got difficult when Reds’ skipper Yusuf Pathan made a hasty exit, falling to Yuvraj for 1. Ishank Jaggi (34) led a spirited lower-order resistance but the target proved to be a little too much for them. For India Blue, Vinay Kumar picked up four wickets, conceding 76, while Iresh Saxena and Piyush Chawla took two wickets apiece. Earlier, both Yuvraj and opener P. Akshat Reddy scored 84 each, but the left-handed skipper enjoyed a strike rate of over 150 as he toyed with the India Red bowlers hitting 11 boundaries and 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.
