Murali Vijay (104) smashed a splendid century and shared a 155-run opening stand with Shikhar Dhawan (68) as India Red trounced India Green by eight wickets to book a berth in the final of the NKP Salve Challenger tournament in Nagpur on Friday.
Chasing a modest 224 for victory, India Red dashed to the target with 11.2 overs to spare and earn a bonus point in the process.
The India Red batsmen complimented the good work done by their bowlers, who did a fantastic job by restricting India Green to 223 for seven at the VCA stadium.
India Green's decision to bat first backfired as their top order struggled to score.
Fighting half-centuries by Saurabh Tiwary (66) and Sikkanth Anirudha (58) helped them put up a respectable total on the board.
Munaf Patel was the most successful bowler for India Red with three wickets against his name.
Vijay and Dhawan started solidly and once they got a feel of the wicket, they played their strokes and were hardly troubled by the India Green bowlers, who cut a sorry figure on Friday.
Vijay's knock came off 117 balls and hit 10 fluent boundaries and a six. Left-handed Dhawan helped himself to eight boundaries during his 81-ball stay at the crease.
India Green bowlers did not taste success until 30th over and by then Vijay and Dhawan had already taken away the match from them.
Paceman Dhawal Kulkarni broke the pair when he had Dhawan caught by Laxmipati Balaji.
Earlier, India Green suffered early jolts and required some gutsy batting by Tiwari and Anirudha to build a total.
Sudeep Tyagi drew first blood when he accounted for diminutive stumper Parthiv Patel (12) in his second over to give Reds a good start.
Munaf Patel then dealt the Reds a double blow as he first got rid of Ajinkya Rahane (2) and then dangerous rival skipper Suresh Raina (15).
Tanmay Srivastava (41) was the only top-order batsman who put up some resistance and after his dismissal the Green's innings was in complete disarray.
Brief Scores:
India Green 223-7 in 50 overs (S Tiwary 66, S Anirudha 58; Munaf Patel 3/57) lost to India Red 229-2 in 38.4 overs (S Dhawan 68, M Vijay 104; C Nanda 1/43)
