BHUBANESWAR 04-Apr-2015 78
Host Odisha`s hope for a berth in the final of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 Tournament went in smoke as they suffered a five-wicket defeat in their last Group-B super league match against Hyderabad at DRIEMS Cricket Stadium in Tangi (Cuttack) today. This was the second defeat in four matches for Odisha and they ended their campaign with eight points.
Electing to bat, East Zone champions Odisha were all out for 153 with five balls to go. Though most of their top-order batsmen, barring Aravind Singh, got starts, none could stay long for a half-century. Leading his team?s bowling attack by example, Hyderabad captain Hanuma Vihari scalped three wickets for 21 runs. Complimenting Vihari, medium-pacer Ravi Kiran too returned with a three-wicket haul.
Hyderabad then rode on a 33-ball 49 by Tanmay Agarwal and a 17-ball unbeaten 37 by Akash Bhandari to clinch a last-ball victory. Bhandari, who put on 47 precious runs for the unfinished sixth wicket, in fact, took the game away from Odisha, hitting two fours and three sixes in the slog overs.
SCOREBOARD
ODISHA: Anurag Sarangi (run out) 22, P Roshan Kumar Rao c Prince b Kiran 11, Govind Podder c&b Vihari 12, Abhilash Mallick st Ahmed b Vihari 23, Aravind Singh c Ahmed b Vihari 0, Biplab Samantaray c Sandeep b Bhandari 33, Shesdeep Para lbw Milin 19, Deepak Behera lbw Kiran 8, Suryakant Pradhan b Kiran 14, Jayant Behera c Ahmed b Milind 1, Alok Mangaraj (not out) 0; Extras (lb-6, w-4) 10
Total (all out; 19.1 overs) 153
Fall of wickets: 1-35, 2-36, 3-66, 4-66, 5-95, 6-121, 7-136, 8-140, 9-152, 10-153
Bowling: Akash Bhandari 3-0-27-1, Ravi Kiran 4-0-31-3, C Milind 3.1-0-21-2, T Suman 2-0-24-0, Sandeep 3-0-23-0, Hanuma Vihari 3-0-21-3
HYDERABAD: T Suman c Rao b Pradhan 6, D Prince st Rao b Podder 31, P Reddy (run out) 16, T Agarwal c Samantaray b D Behera 49, H Vihari c Rao b Mangaraj 0, B Thomas (not out) 11, A Bhandari (not out) 37; Extras (lb-2, w-2) 4
Total (5 wkts; 20 overs) 154
Fall of wickets: 1-10, 2-34, 3-82, 4-87, 5-107
Bowling: Suryakant Pradhan 4-0-23-1, Deepak Behera 4-0-32-1, Jayant Behera 2-0-22-0, Biplab Samantaray 4-0-30-0, Alok Mangaraj 4-0-21-1, Govind Podder 2-0-24-1
FIRST WIN FOR MUMBAI: West Zone league toppers Mumbai registered their first win after two defeats, beating Rajasthan by 33 runs in Group B at DRIEMS Stadium earlier in the day. Three players put up impressive performance in the win.
Playing only his third T20 match, 19-year-old Jay Bista slammed an unbeaten 81 (59b, 6x4, 4x6) to help Mumbai make 154 for four after they were put into bat. Pacers Javed Khan and Rohan Raje then bagged three wickets each to pave the way for the victory as Rajasth were bowled out for 121. This was the first defeat in three matches for Rajasthan, who, however, continued to share the lead with Odisha and Punjab with eight points in their kitty.
Brief scores: Mumbai 154/4 in 20 overs (Jay Bista 81 n.o, Siddharth Chitnis 38; Pankaj Singh 2/28) beat Rajasthan 121 in 18 overs (Rajesh Bishnoi 33, Ashok Menaria 27, Arjit Gupta 21; Javed Khan 3/15, Rohan Raje 3/15, Sidak Singh 2/7) by 33 runs.
THREE-IN-THREE FOR GUJARAT: West Zone runners-up Gujarat maintaining their winning run in Group-A, scripting a five-wicket win over Central Zone champions Madhya Pradesh at KIIT Cricket Ground in Bhubaneswar. This was the third successive win for Gujarat and they emerged sole leader in the group with full 12 points.
Chasing 150 for victory, Gujarat rode on a 33-ball 60 by Priyank Panchal and his 74-run stand for the third wicket with Manpreet Juneja to overhaul the target with seven balls to spare. Himalaya Barad capped the win with an eight-ball 22, which included three sixes. Juneja remained unbeaten with a run-a-ball 40.
Earlier put into bat, Madhya Pradesh overcame a horrible start to post challenging total of 149 for four. Struggling at two for one, MP owed their recovery to Zafar Ali, who scored an unbeaten 56-ball 70 (5x4, 3x6) and stitched together 76 runs for the third-wicket stand with Udit Birla, who contributed 38.
Brief score: Madhya Pradesh 149/4 in 20 overs (Zafar Ali 70 n.o, Udit Birla 38, Parth Sahani 26 n.o; Rohit Dahiya 2/33) lost to Gujarat 252/5 in 18.5 overs (Priyank Panchal 60, Manpreet Juneja 40 n.o, Himalaya Barad 22 n.o; Jatin Saxena 2/30) by 5 wkts.
JAGGI TON IN VAIN: Ishank Jaggi`s unbeaten 108 off 67 balls went in vain as Jharkhand lost to Andhra by six wickets in another Group-A match here at KIIT Cricket Ground. Asked to bat first, Jharkhand made 159 for three, thanks to the dominant knock by Jaggi, who hit 14 boundaries and three sixes.
With their top batsmen making decent contributions, South Zone champions Andhra chased down quite comfortably to register their second win in three games. Opener Prashanth Kumar top scored with 51, while K Sasikanth remained unbeaten on 46. This was the fourth defeat in a row for Jharkhand and they finished at the bottom of the group table without a single point.
Brief score: Jharkhand 159/3 in 20 overs (Ishank Jaggi 108 n.o) lost to Andhra 162/4 in 16.4 overs (Prashanth Kumar 51, K Sasikanth 46 n.o, M Sriram 28, A Pradeep 23) by 6 wkts.
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PHOTO: Akash Bhandari (Left) and Benjamin Thomas return after capping Hyderabad`s win over Odisha in Cuttack on April 4, 2015.
