A superbly-paced century by opener Shikhar Dhawan helped India Red score a 23-run win over India Blue in the first round of the Paytm Prof. D.B. Deodhar Trophy limited-overs cricket tournament at the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy Stadium here on Saturday.
Ambati Rayudu’s brilliance (92, 92b, 8x4, 2x6) and a blinder towards the end by Deepak Hooda (46, 27b, 2x4, 3x6) were not enough for India Blue chasing a victory target of 328.
India Blue was off to a slow start scoring 67 for two in the first 15 overs and also lost openers Mayank Agarwal and Mandeep Singh.
Even Rayudu was subdued to start with but once he hit Harpreet Singh Bhatia for two fours in one over to move from the 20s to 30s, he turned the heat on.
But, later it was Akshay Karnewar’s strikes — he got the big wickets of Rishab Pant and Rayudu, both caught and bowled, and then lured Krunal Pandya to hit straight to long-on — which put the brakes on the chase.
Dhawal Kulkarni completed a split hat-trick, dismissing Shardul Thakur with the last ball of the 47th over and then sending back Deepak Hooda and Siddharth Kaul off the first two balls in the 49th over.
Perfect stage
Earlier, the stage was perfectly set — a beautiful batting track and an erratic bowling attack — for southpaw Dhawan to rediscover his form with a stroke-filled century (128, 122b, 13x4, 3x6).
The only exception for India Blue was pace bowler Kaul who bowled his heart out to return with a five-wicket haul.
