I haven’t covered this tournament as it really is a waste of time with no real sense of which players are good enough to be selected for the Indian squad. You cannot decide an international team based on only a couple of matches. The tournament has not been planned properly with only one game against each other and the final. As it stands after yesterday’s match, India Red are in the final thanks to a bonus point.

In the first match, India Blue were led to victory by a solid innings from Suresh Raina who has vowed to come back into the Indian team. And why not, the bloke has all the right ingredients to play a big part in the future of Indian cricket. The match really should have belonged to Virender Sehwag who was the captain and is also looking to make a comeback into Team India. However, quite unsurprisingly, he managed to goof up this chance again. So did Dinesh Karthik. He continues to get out on the Big O in the shorter format of the game and the selectors would really be thinking if we need Dinesh Karthik as a second wicket-keeper in the squad with Parthiv Patel being a much better batsman.

Suresh Raina came in when India Blue were in all sorts of problems. At 41-4, India Red were looking to finish this match there and then. However, with some solid middle order partnerships, the Blues managed to post a decent 246. Defendable but also attainable. The Reds never really got going and despite 40+ totals from captain Kaif, Badrinath and Rawat, the total of 247 proved to be elusive. The pick of the bowlers for both teams were Praveen Kumar from India Red and Joginder Sharma from India Blue. Kumar would play a decisive role in the next match.

Click here for the India Blue vs India Red scorecard.

Match 2 was played yesterday between India Red and India Green. A do-or-die match for the Reds. A loss would have had them kicked out of the tournament. A win would have ensured that they would still have some chance of making it to the final. However, the end result would have please Kaif no doubt, as with the bonus point they are now in the final.

After winning the toss, Mohammad Kaif had no hesitation in batting first. Praveen Kumar did not last for long and the Reds had lost their first wicket with the score on 18. Kaif followed soon after. It was Gautam Gambhir who came to the rescue, and a controlled 73 from the Delhi opener saw his team out of trouble but a couple of quick wickets, including his, left the Reds at a crucial 139-4 in the 26th over. Badrinath then took control of the match and a good partnership with Kohli saw the Indian Red team finish at 303-7 from their 50 overs.

It proved to be far too much for the Greens and the end result was a massive 88 run defeat. The only decent performance for the Indian Green team was a solid 65 from another Team India aspirant Manoj Tiwary. Praveen Kumar may have failed with the bat but his 9-0-5-45 helped the India Red team to the finals. He is surely going to be a contender for a place in the Indian squad against Pakistan. With one more match to go he has a very good chance to cement his place. It would be extremely unfortunate if he does not get picked up.

Click here for the India Red vs India Green scorecard.

Image Source: Cricinfo.com

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