India A, India Seniors in final

India A and India Seniors will clash in the final of the Challenger series on Thursday. Both made the grade after India B lost to India A by six wickets in the third and concluding match of the three-team league at the M A Chidambaram stadium on Wednesday night.

India A, having beaten India Seniors in the opening match of the tournament, topped the league with four points while India Seniors, who had beaten India B on Tuesday, finished second, with two points.

Requiring to score just 260 runs to enter the final in the event of a three-way tie, after India B were all out for 284 in 49.3 overs earlier in the evening, India A scored 285 for 4 with seven balls to spare.

Opener Sridharan Sriram and skipper Rahul Dravid put them on the victory path by the 35th over with quickfire knocks of 85 off 97 balls and 92 off 88 balls respectively.

After Sadagoppan Ramesh fell in only the fourth over for four, with 19 runs on the board, Dravid and Sriram dominated the bowling as they put together a 167-run partnership for the second wicket till the latter was caught by Nikhil Chopra off the bowling of Sukhbinder Singh in the 29th over.

Six overs later Dravid too was back in the pavilion after edging one to Vijay Dahiya off the bowling of medium pacer Rakesh Patel, with the score 213 for 3.

However, Hrishikesh Kanitkar (40) and Jacob Martin (30 not out) then batted steadily to see India A through.

Reetinder Singh Sodhi was unbeaten on 7.

Earlier in the evening, after electing to bat, the Robin Singh-led India B put aside intial hiccups, as Dinesh Mongia and Amay Khurasia, hit classy half-centuries to put up a respectable total.

India B were in deep trouble having lost the wickets of both openers J P Yadav (14) and Sachin Tendulkar (24), and Mohd Kaif (5) with only 49 runs on the board in 8.1 overs.

However, Mongia (83), Khurasia (90) and Robin Singh (30 not out) played patiently to lift them from the dumps.

Venkatesh Prasad was the wrecker-in-chief with 4 wickets for 48 runs.

Tendulkar was the first to go, falling prey to Prasad's slower delivery as he attempted a straight drive without moving his feet. His 24 contained five fours.

Yadav and Kaif added 15 runs before the former's mistimed drive to covers off Prasad went straight to R S Sodhi.

Ajit Agarkar dismissed Kaif with the first ball of his fifth over. Kaif's intended pull off Agarkar was top-edged for a straight forward catch to Rahul Sanghvi at mid on.

Tuesday's centurion, against India Seniors, Mongia continued on his good form, and along with Khurasia, who had failed on Tuesday -- making just one -- brought respectability to the India B innings.

Sodhi bore the brunt of both batsmen as he was hit for 30 runs in just three overs, forcing captain Rahul Dravid to withdraw him from the attack.

Hrishikesh Kanitkar came in place of Sodhi but the batsmen still could not be contained as they gained in strength and confidence on a wicket, which offered good bounce for those willing to extract it.

Khurasia and Mongia stuck a purple patch and the 100 partnership came in just 72 minutes off 101 balls and the 150 mark came at a much faster rate (92 mins 123 balls).

But just when Khurasia was coasting towards a well-deserved century, his innings was brought to an end by Rahul Sanghvi.

Khurasia stepped out of the crease to hoist the bowler but missed the ball totally and wicketkeeper Nayan Mongia did the rest. Khurasia's 90 came in 84 minutes off 103 balls and contained seven fours and four sixes.

He had put on 171 runs for the fourth wicket with Dinesh in 152 balls and when he departed India 'B' were 220-4.

Then on, the run rate slumped as Mongia too left, caught at mid-wicket by Jacob Martin off Ajit Agarkar, who was devastatingly dangerous with superb line and length in his second spell. He scalped two wickets, that of Mongia and Rakesh Patel (0) conceding just three runs.

Agarkar continued his good work and his final analysis read 10-1-37-3.

Skipper Robin Singh tried to get big runs in the closing stages of the innings but ran out of partners.

India B:
J P Yadav c Sodhi b Prasad 14
S R Tendulkar c & b Prasad 24
Mohd. Kaif c Sanghvi b Agarkar 5
D Mongia c Martin b Agarkar 83
A Khurasiya st Mongia b Sanghvi 90
R Singh not out 30
R Patel b Agarkar 0
Sukhbinder Singh c & b Sanghvi 0
V Dahiya run out 9
N Chopra c Ramesh b Prasad 12
Surendra Singh b Prasad 0
Extras (LB6, W5, NB6) 17
Total (all out, 49.3 overs) 284
Fall of wickets: 1-34, 2-49, 3-49, 4-220, 5-232, 6-232, 7-233, 8-249, 9-283,10-284.
Bowling
Agarkar 10-1-37-3
Prasad 9.3-1-48-4
Sodhi 6- 0-50- 0
Kanitkar 9-0-49-0
Balaji Rao 5-0-42-0
Sanghvi 10-0-52-2

India A
S Sriram c Chopra b Sukhbinder Singh 85
S Ramesh c Dahiya b Patel 4
R Dravid c Dahiya b Patel 92
H Kanitkar c Mongia b Surinder Singh 43
J Martin not out 30
R Sodhi not out 7
Extras (B4, LB4, W6, NB10) 24
Total (for 4 wickets, 48.5 overs) 285
Did not bat: Nayan Mongia, Ajit Agarkar, Venkatesh Prasad, Balaji Rao, Rahul Sanghvi.
Fall of wickets: 1-19, 2-186, 3-213, 4-275.
Bowling
Surinder Singh 7- 0- 36- 1
Patel 10- 0- 63- 2
Yadav 4.4- 0- 36- 0
Sukhbinder Singh 8- 0- 55- 1
Chopra 10- 1- 47- 0
Tendulkar 8- 0- 35- 0
Kaif 1- 0- 5- 0

Related reports:
India A beat India Seniors
Ganguly steers India Seniors to victory

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