Gambir's ton puts India Reds in commanding position

Chennai, Oct 1 (UNI) A fine century by opener Gautam Gambhir (110) and a fluent 67 by skipper Y Venugopala Rao, helped India Reds score 280 all out against India Blues in the first match of the Challenger series for the N K P Salve Trophy here today.

Reds began badly losing two early wickets and the innings was resurrected by a 145-run third wicket stand between Gambhir and Rao, before they lost ground in the slog overs to be bowled out of the last ball.

Reds were in fact strongly placed at 204 for three at the end of 40 overs and were set for a score of 300-plus, before they lost wickets in a heap. They lost their last eight wickets for 91 runs in 13.3 overs.

For India Blues, left arm seamer Irfan Pathan and right arm medium pacer Munaf Patel claimed three wickets each, while Ajit Agarkar bagged two wickets.

Electing to bat first on a wicket having a tinge of green, India Red lost two early wickets when opener Robin Uthappa (10) and S Badrinath (15) fell in quick succession to Pathan.

While Karnataka batsmen Uthappa slashed outside the offstump and was held by Munaf at third man fence, who completed a fine running catch, Badrinath cut Pathan straight to Jadeja at point, putting the Reds in a spot of bother at 44 for two in the ninth over.

However, skipper Venugopala Rao and left hander Gautam Gambhir steadied the innings with some sensible batting. Despite enjoying a reprieve at eight when Dravid grassed him in the second slip off Munaf Patel, Gambhir was never in trouble as he grounded the Blues attack.

Rao provided admirable support from the other end as the duo picked runs at ease with ones and twos. They played the ball on merit and punished the loose deliveries. Dravid kept shuffling his bowlers but of no avail.

Rao appeared to be a bit aggressive as he picked Agarkar for two fours in one over and Gambhir too targeted him, flicking off his pads and driving him square of the wicket for boundaries.

As the partnership threatened to gain alarming proportions, came the much needed breakthrough when Rao holed out to Mongia at long-off, of Pathan, trying to force the pace. Rao struck nine fours in his 101-ball knock of 67 runs and in the process added 145 for the third wicket in 168 balls to put the innings on a firm footing. Gambhir, on the other hand, continued merrily and greeted Pathan with a towering six over long on when he came back for the second spell, and duly reached his century with a single off the same bowler.

Gambhir, who hit 10 boundaries and a six in his 119-ball essay, ran himself out going for a non-existent second run and could not beat Sehwag's throw from the midwicket fence.

The tall Rohit Sharma propelled the innings with a 29-ball 33, as Reds, who were well set for a score of 300, collapsed, losing seven wickets in the last ten overs.

Following is the scoreboard: India Red: Robin Uthappa c Munaf Patel b Pathan 10 Gautam Gambhir (run out) 110 S Badrinath c Ravindra Jadeja b Pathan 15 Y Venugopala Rao c Dinesh Mongia b Pathan 67 Rohit Sharma c Sachin b Munaf Patel 33 Dinesh Kaarthick c Harbhajan b Agarkar 11 Ramesh Powar b Munaf Patel zero Murali Kartik c Sehwag b Munaf Patel 12 Zaheer Khan c Sachin b Agarkar 5 S Sreeshanth (not out) 3 V R V Singh (run out) 2 Extras: (lb-1, w-3, nb-8) 12 Total: 280 all out in 50overs.

Fall of wickets: 1-15, 2-44, 3-189, 4-227, 5-244, 6-249, 7-266, 8-274, 9-275, 10-280.

Bowling: Irfan Pathan 10-0-55-3 Munaf Patel 10-1-49-3 Ajit Agarkar 10-0-57-2 Harbhajan Singh 10-0-58-0 Dinesh Mongia 5-0-29-0 Virender Sehwag 2-0-13-0 Ravindra Jadeja 3-0-18-0.

UNI