Following Team India’s early ouster from the Champions Trophy, it was a disappointed Mahendra Singh Dhoni who left South Africa, with the performance of his fast bowlers and the lack of a quality all-rounder being his major concerns.

By the time the India captain landed in Nagpur for the Challenger Series, though, Sreesanth and Munaf Patel had managed to provide some comfort with their fiery spells during the Irani Cup. And after young Sudeep Tyagi’s three-wicket burst on Sunday, Dhoni must be a relieved man — despite the seven-wicket thrashing that his team, India Blue, were subjected to.

Tyagi was off-colour during the Irani Cup and struggled to find his rhythm in the early stages of the Challenger Series, but the UP fast bowler provided eventual champions India Red with a dream start in the final, picking up two wickets in the very first over of the innings. Naman Ojha, who recorded his second failure of the tournament, was the first to go, shouldering arms to an incoming delivery. Tyagi then trapped Suresh Kumar lbw to leave India Blue tottering, before bowling Harbhajan Singh, who was promoted up the order again.

With India Blue reeling at 19 for three, Munaf Patel took over and continued his good form at the VCA Stadium, picking up the wickets of Wasim Jaffer, Abhishek Nayar, Yusuf Pathan and Sreesanth to finish with four for 21. With eight wickets in the tournament, Munaf has made it difficult for selectors to ignore him when they sit to pick the squad for the upcoming ODI series against Australia.

... contd.