Robin Uthappa came good in the big final with a well-paced unbeaten 157, an innings around which Air India-Red posted an impressive 284.
Yuvraj Singh with the ball and Robin Uthappa with the bat played crucial roles as Air India-Red beat Air India-Blue by 93 runs in the final of the Corporate Trophy at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Tuesday.
Yuvraj displayed the uncanny knack of turning a game around with the ball as he struck crucial blows, first removing Mohammad Kaif and then Mahendra Singh Dhoni off successive deliveries to be on a hat-trick. Robin Uthappa came good in the big final with a well-paced unbeaten 157, an innings around which Air India-Red posted an impressive 284.
Yuvraj brought himself on in the 17th over and immediately enjoyed success. He removed a well-set Kaif, leg-before-wicket, off his first ball. And then he had Dhoni dismissed off the next ball to pull the match back in his team’s favour.
There was a healthy cheer when Dhoni walked onto the field but he hit the first ball he faced back to Yuvraj, who did not make any mistake. There was more excitement when wicketkeeper Naman Ojha whipped off the bails off the very next ball against Shafiq Khan. However, the third umpire ruled in favour of the batsman.
Opener Chandan Madan, who hit a century against Tata Sports Club in the semifinal, fought a lone battle but the target proved to be beyond reach as the rest of the batsmen fell without a fight. Kaif looked in good touch till he fell to Yuvraj.
Uthappa missed out on a half-century in the semifinal against ONGC but on Tuesday he was at his best. Early in his outing he flicked medium-pacer Pankaj Singh for a boundary and followed it up immediately with a straight drive. It was clear he had found the sweet spot on his bat.
Uthappa wasn’t afraid to use his feet against the spinners and it yielded results. He bravely slog-swept Harbhajan Singh for a six and then scampered through for a single to bring up his 150. As the innings drew to a close Uthappa went inside out to hit Pankaj Singh for a six.
With Uthappa making an unbeaten 157 of the 284 runs it was literally a one-man show from the opener. Yuvraj was caught at long-off after a slow innings. He made 17 off 39 balls and didn’t find the boundary. Suresh Raina didn’t make too many before he was caught by Mohammad Kaif at short cover off Pankaj Singh.
Brief scores: Air India Red 284 for 8 in 50 overs (Robin Uthappa 157 n.o, Sushant Marathe 36, Suresh Raina 28; Harbhajan Singh 4/55, Pankaj Singh 2/64) bt Air India Blue 191 all out in 41.5 overs (Chandan Madan 85, Mohammad Kaif 32; Yuvraj Singh 3/30, Ankeet Chavan 3/29)
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