India A defeat India Seniors by four wickets

Sparkling performances by Nayan Mongia who hit 28 not out (32 balls, five fours) and Ajit Agarkar who scored 19 not out (19 balls, 3 fours) enabled India A to complete a rather convincing four wicket victory over the fancied India Seniors with 13 balls to spare in the opening match of the Hero-Honda NKP Salve Challenger Series at the floodlit MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai on Monday.

Replying to India Seniors' total of 240 for nine in 50 overs, India were 197 for six in the 44th over. At this stage, the match looked sure to go to the wire. Mongia and Agarkar however made short work of their task, as they took heavy toll of the 45th over bowled by Ashish Nehra, getting 14 runs. Mongia who started off slowly, was into rhythm soon and played some crisp strokes. Agarkar also played a dominating innings striking the ball cleanly under tremendous pressure. Ultimately Mongia got the winning boundary off Zaheer Khan.

Actually India A got off to a shaky start losing three wickets with just 57 on the board. Sadagopan Ramesh (11), Sridharan Sriram (20) and Rahul Dravid (14) were all back in the pavilion in quick succession.

H Kanitkar (55) and Jacob Martin (32) steadied the boat, adding 77 runs for the fourth wicket. RS Sodhi too chipped in with a useful 29. He hit a huge six off Virender Shewag over long on to set the tempo. Then came the climactic partnership between Agarkar and Mongia. Zaheer Khan was easily the best of the bowling with the figures of 9.2-2-28-3. Rathour blotted his copy book with two dropped catches.

Earlier, India Seniors won the toss and elected to bat first. Sourav Ganguly fell for a duck, caught down the leg side by Nayan Mongia off Agarkar. VVS Laxman once again proved his worth with a classy 78 off just 72 balls with eight fours. SS Das was unlucky to be run out for 46.

Yuvraj Singh (10), Shewag (9), Rathour (0) and Joshi (0) were all back in the dressing room without making much impression. Zaheer with 12 runs off 48 balls helped a blazing Hemang Badani who made 64 runs off 58 balls with five boundaries and two massive sixes added 55 runs for the eighth wicket to give their total a competitive edge. Agarkar was the most successful of the bowlers picking up three wickets.