<
>

Juneja, Panchal see off Madhya Pradesh

File photo: Manpreet Juneja anchored Gujarat's chase with a run-a-ball 40 BCCI

Group A

Gujarat chased down a target of 150 set by Madhya Pradesh to beat them by five wickets in Bhubaneshwar.

Having been put in, MP lost both openers inside two overs and were 1 for 2 before Zafar Ali and Udit Birla steadied their innings with a 76-run stand for the third wicket. Zafar then played a part in two 30-plus partnerships, with Harpreet Singh and Parth Sahani, as he made an unbeaten 56-ball 70 that helped MP to 149 in their 20 overs.

Gujarat's chase began briskly and the early wicket of Smit Patel didn't deter Priyank Kirit Panchal, who struck seven fours and two sixes in a 33-ball 60 before falling to Jatin Saxena in the 11th over. Jalaj Saxena and his older brother Jatin then removed Rujul Bhatt and Chirag Gandhi in quick succession, leaving Gujarat 103 for 4.

While Manpreej Juneja anchored the chase with a run-a-ball 40, Himalaya Barad struck three sixes in an eight-ball 22 to hand Gujarat victory with seven balls to spare.

Ishank Jaggi's unbeaten 108 off 67 balls, including 14 fours and three sixes, went in vain as Andhra got the better of Jharkhand by six wickets with 20 balls to spare, and climbed to third place on the points table.

Needing 160 to win, Prasanth Kumar, who made 51 off 26 balls with six fours and three sixes, and Murumulla Sriram put on 78 runs in 7.2 overs for the first wicket. Despite losing both of them in the space of an over, Andhra continued to attack through KV Sasikanth (46* off 31 balls) and AG Pradeep (23 off 13 balls), and polished off the target with relative ease.

It was Sasikanth who ensured Jharkhand, after being sent in, didn't get off to a good start, snaffling a caught-and-bowled to remove Ishan Kishan. Save for Jaggi there were no other significant contributions. CV Stephen was frugal, picking up a wicket and conceding only 17 in his four overs.

Group B

An inspired bowling performance from Mumbai saw them beat Rajasthan by 33 runs in Cuttack. Javed Khan and Rohan Raje picked up three wickets each, while the 15-year old Sidak Singh finished with figures of 2 for 7.

Having been set a target of 154, Rajasthan's chase was jolted early by Javed, who struck twice in his first over. Rajasthan lost three more wickets soon after and were 36 for 5 inside eight overs.

Rajasthan managed two quick 30-plus partnerships for the sixth and seventh wickets but Sidak removed Ashok Menaria and Manjeet Singh off successive deliveries in the 15th over, after which there was little resistance from the tail.

Mumbai, who were put in, rode on Jay Bista's unbeaten 59-ball 81 and Siddarth Chitnis' 38 to finish on 154 for 4.

Hyderabad left it to the last ball to grab a five-wicket win over Odisha in Cuttack.

Given a target of 154, Hyderabad lost Tirumalasetti Suman in the third over of their innings and Akshath Reddy in the seventh, leaving them 34 for 2. Tanmay Agarwal and Dereck Prince shared a 48-run stand for the third wicket to steady the chase, before Hyderabad lost Prince (31) and captain Hanuma Vihari (0) in the space of five balls.

Deepak Behera dismissed Agarwal one short of his fifty after which Benjamin Thomas and Akash Bhandari saw Hyderabad home with an unbroken 47-run stand. Bhandari smashed three sixes and two fours for his 17-ball 37 to finish off the chase.

Odisha, who chose to bat, began briskly and scored 35 in 3.5 overs before Anurag Sarangi was run out. Biplab Samantaray top-scored with 33 as a couple of 20-run partnerships took Odisha to 121 for 6. The Hyderabad bowlers kept chipping away at the wickets eventually bowling Odisha out for 153 in 19.1 overs. Vihari and M Ravi Kiran picked three wickets each, while Chama Milind took 2 for 21.