India Blues score huge victory

Chennai, Oct 2 (UNI) Batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar's awesome knock of 139 set the tone for India Blues to score a massive 266 run win over India Greens in the second match of the Challenger Series for the N K P Salve Trophy here tonight.

After Sachin's fireworks and Dhoni's brilliance illuminated the proceedings and propelled the Men in Blue to an imposing 381 for six in 50 overs, it turned out to be an abject surrender by the India Greens who were folded up for 115 in 26.4 overs.

Barring Sourav Gaguly (24) and Parthiv Patel (43), who were aiming for India come back, none of the future hopefuls really made an attempt as Harbhajan Singh, Munaf Patel and Irfan Pathan shared the spoils picking wickets at regular intervals. The Greens collapsed like a pack of cards and the match ended long before the scheduled close.

Chasing an imposing total, India Green's hopes were pinned on quite a few players, including former skipper Ganguly.

Sourav might have impressed the selectors with an economic spell of 5-0-23-0, the best among the Green bowlers especially when Sachin was in rollicking form. But his bat let him down as his stint at the crease lasted just 44 minutes.

After what appeared to be a smooth start, Jaffer (12, 18 balls, 1x4) signalled the shape of things to come falling to a brilliant catch at point by substitute Ravindra Jadeja off Munaf Patel.

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