Neeraj Patel (65) and Sourav Ganguly (51) cross over during the Challenger Trophy final on Thursday. (PTI) l Scorecard on Page 10

Mumbai: Skipper Rahul Dravid coasted India A to the NKP Salve challenger one-day cricket tournament crown with a measured unbeaten 72 in the summit clash against India Senior at the Wankhede Stadium here on Thursday.

Set 212 to win by Sourav Ganguly-led India Senior, who were skittled out for 211 in 47.2 overs after choosing to bat first, India A won the match by six wickets with eight balls to spare.

Dravid?s innings came in 101 balls and included six fours and he was involved in two crucial stands worth 101 runs with opener Dheeraj Jadhav, who made a patient 58, and an unbroken 73 runs for the fifth wicket with Mohammed Kaif who remained unconquered on 42.

Dravid and Jadhav forces when India A were in dire straits at 38 for three in the 12th over, following a fiery opening spell by Laxmipathy Balaji during which he pegged back opener Satyajit Parab and one-down Dinesh Kaarthik cheaply.

Lanky Bengal pacer Ranadeb Bose then removed Dinesh Mongia (15).

After 25 overs, India A were 85 for 3 and the 100 was reached in 28.2 overs.

Jadhav completed his half-century in 104 balls with the help of five fours and then got out when he tried to give charge to Sourav and was stumped.

Undeterred by this loss, Dravid and Kaif kept the tempo going and finished the job in style.

The winners received Rs 5 lakh and the runners-up got Rs 2.5 lakh.

Earlier, Sourav and Neeraj Patel batted fluently to notch individual half centuries but India Senior never recovered fully from a poor start and were shot out for 211. Ganguly had won the opening battle in his skirmish with India A captain Rahul Dravid by winning the toss, but thereafter was forced to see wickets tumble at the other end as the seniors were bowled out in the 48th over itself.

Young Uttar Pradesh left arm medium pacer Rudra Pratap Singh broke the back of the India Senior innings with a three-wicket burst, including two in his first over, during his long spell of 8 overs.