Sending out a clear signal to the national selectors about his fitness and form middle-order batsman Suresh Raina on Thursday made a composed 92 runs to help India Blue win by 12 runs against India Red in the first match of the one-day N K P Salve Challenger Trophy.
Chasing a victory target of 247 runs, India Red could manage just 234 for eight in their 50 overs.
Raina who came in to bat with India Blue in dire straits at 41 for four, batted calmly, even as the national selectors watched from the sidelines at the Sardar Patel Gujarat stadium at Motera.
Raina shared an 87 run partnership with Niraj Patel (35) for the fifth wicket and then partnered with Joginder Sharma (27) to help India Blue reach 246 in 49.3 overs.
After being out of action for most of the year, Raina made a statement by striking a stylish half-century, laced with seven boundaries and two sixes.
Raina last represented India during the home series against West Indies in January this year. He was out of action after suffering a knee ligament injury.
However, his captain Virender Sehwag, who has been out of the Indian squad for the past several months failed to make an impression after winning the toss and electing to bat first.
Though Sehwag began cautiously he was caught in the covers by S Badrinath of the India Red bowler Praveen Kumar.
Sewhag was the second scalp for Praveen. Earlier he had the opener A Rahane (0) clean bowled on the very first ball of the match.
Praveen went on to pick the wicket of Dinesh Karthick (0) and Ramesh Powar (21) to finish with figures of four for 42 in 10 overs. Siddarth Trivedi with three wickets was the other successful bowler for India Red.
Chasing the modest target of 247 to win, India Red got an early jolt when they lost both the openers Gautam Gambhir and R S Ricky. Mohammad Kaif (42) and S Badrinath (41) did well to repair the innings but failed to carry on with their good start.
Even a late flourish from wicketkeeper Mahesh Rawat (47) and Praveen Kumar (37) could not help India Red's cause as the run rate had climbed over nine runs per over.
India Red finally could only make 234 for eight wickets in the allotted 50 overs.
Suresh Raina was declared Man of the Match.
