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Cuttack: A brilliant unbeaten 117 by Rohit Sharma brought India Red back from the dead at the Barabati Stadium on Friday to keep alive their hopes in the Challenger Series here. The five wicket win over India Green had looked most unlikely for much of the match but the brilliance Sharma's crispy stroke-making prevailed in the end.
The Reds lost another crucial toss but if they quickly lost ground this time around, they will have to take much of the blame themselves.
Green's openers Naman Ojha and Shikhar Dhawan made the most of the waywardness, showing a eagerness even as they settled down and then all but taking the match away from the Reds with a partnership of 102 runs.
Score Board
| Toss:India Green won the toss and elected to bat first Result: India Red won by 5 wickets with 7 balls remaining |
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| India Green | ||
| S Dhawan | c Tiwary b Parmar | 46 (56) |
| NV Ojha | c Vijay b Chawla | 96 (130) |
| SK Raina | c Tiwary b Chawla | 58 (65) |
| YK Pathan | c Fazal b Chawla | 0 (1) |
| M Kaif | c Tiwary b Nayar | 15 (13) |
| LR Shukla | run out | 3 (4) |
| CA Pujara | not out | 18 (14) |
| RP Singh | b Kumar | 4 (9) |
| MS Gony | b Kumar | 0 (3) |
| Pankaj Singh | b Balaji | 0 (1) |
| PP Ojha | not out | 1 (4) |
| Extra (lb: 9, b:1, wd: 10) | 20 | |
| Total | 260/9 (50.0 Ov) | |
| India Red |
target 261 (50 overs)
|
|
| FY Fazal | lbw b Gony | 15 (25) |
| M Vijay | c Shukla b Pathan | 45 (60) |
| RG Sharma | not out | 117 (120) |
| S Badrinath | c NV Ojha b Gony | 27 (43) |
| MK Tiwary | lbw b Raina | 8 (14) |
| AM Nayar | c Pujara b Singh | 34 (31) |
| PP Chawla | batting | 1 (2) |
| Extra (lb 9, w 6, n 1) | 16 | |
| Total | 263/5 (48.5 Ov) | |
