AP, Odisha secure their 2nd consecutive wins in Nagesh Trophy

Chennai/Puducherry/Ajmer: Odisha and defending champions Andhra Pradesh secured their second consecutive victories in the IndusInd Bank Nagesh Trophy National T20 Cricket for the Blind being played at different grounds of the cities while Haryana finished second in Group D after the completion of the group matches. Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh also won their respective group matches.

In the final group matches of Group D at Puducherry’s Palymra Cricket Ground Haryana beat hosts Puducherry by 10 wickets to finish second in the group behind Gujarat while Madhya Pradesh beat Uttarakhand by 8 wickets. Puducherry won the toss and elected to bat against Haryana. They scored 172/4 from 20 overs aided by two partnerships for the 3^rd and 4^th wickets. G. Dhinagaran and Sakthiganapathi put together 88 runs for the third wicket while M. Thangaraj joined Dhinagaran to score 66 runs for the 4^th wicket which helped the host to a respectable total. Dhinagaran top scored with 66 runs, while Sakthiganapathi scored 46 and Thangaraj scored 16 for the team. Deepak Malik and Bhupender Malik took a wicket each for Haryana. Haryana openers Deepak Malik and Rambir Singh made light work of the chase, chasing the target down in 15.2 overs without losing any wickets. Deepak scored 92 while Rambir scored 61. In the other match, Uttarakhand won the toss and elected to bat. Their innings faltered under some good bowling performance by the M.P team and eventually finished their innings on 129/9 in 20 overs. Rampal Uike scalped two wickets while Ajeet Oraon, Vinod Jogare and Gokul Pardhi took a wicket each. The target was no challenge for the M.P batters as they chased it down in 14.2 overs with the loss of 2 wickets. Deepak Pahade (35) top scored while Rampal Uike (30) and Sonu Golkar (30) made it easy for M.P who finished the tournament with this solitary win.

In the Group A matches at Sri Ramachandra University, Chennai, defending champions Andhra Pradesh beat Tamil Nadu by 5 wickets. Winning the toss and electing to bat, the hosts made 161/7 in their 20 overs. Opener R. Sarathkumar top scored with 82 runs but he could not get any support from other batters. T. Durga Rao and K. Vaikanta took a wicket each. In reply, Andhra lost two quick wickets but the innings was held together by a third wicket partnership of 55 runs between D. Venkateswara Rao and Thandava Krishna who scored 53 and 44 not out runs respectively. The chase was again jolted as they lost 3 wickets in quick succession. A. Ravi joined Thandava Krishna in the middle and both batters saw off the innings safely. Ravi remained unbeaten on 37. Venkateshmunikaran took 2 wickets for the hosts. In the other match of the group, Himachal secured their first victory of the tournament beating, Jharkhand by 6 wickets. Batting first, Jharkhand scored 167/8 in their 20 overs. Rajeev Ranjan Das and Sujit Munda top scored with 36 runs each. Sanjeev Kerketta also contributed with 20 runs. In reply, Himachal opener Vijay Kumar anchored the innings from start to finish and saw his team down the line. He played a match winning knock of 105 runs of 81 balls with the help of 12 boundaries. Himachal crossed the target the final over with four balls to spare and 6 wickets remaining.

In Group C matches at the Lawrence and Mayo Public School, Ajmer, Odisha got the better of Delhi by 65 runs and secured their second victory and also stopped Delhi’s winning run. Batting first, Odisha amassed a huge total of 262/2 in their 20 overs. Opener Lingaraj Rautara scored a brilliant unbeaten century (107 of 62 balls) and made partnerships with Nakula Badnayak who scored 34 runs (70 runs) for the first wicket, with Mohammed Jafar Iqbal who scored 36 runs (90 runs) for the second wicket, with Sukhram Majhi who remained unbeaten on 45 runs (102 runs) for the third wicket to help Odisha reach a huge total. Vijay Kumar took a wicket for Delhi. In reply, Delhi openers Vipin Kumar and Manish Kumar also started well putting together a partnership of 66 runs in 8 overs. After the dismissal of Vipin, Delhi faltered in the chase and lost 2 more wickets quickly. Alok Kumar then joined Manish in the middle and both batters pushed for the target but could not achieve it. Manish Kumar remained unbeaten on 103 runs of 65 balls. Alok scored 33 runs. Eventually, Delhi innings ended on 197/5 in 20 overs. Tapan Kumar Gouda took two wickets while Kalia Pradhan took a wicket for Odisha. In the other match of the group, Rajasthan thrashed Jammu & Kashmir by 9 wickets. Winning the toss, J&K elected to bat which proved costly for them. They were bowled out just 96 runs in 18 overs. Only Surjeet Singh (21) and Ajay Kumar (21) offered some resistance. Ravi took 2 wickets while Pradip and Lalit Meena took a wicket each for Rajasthan. In reply, Rajasthan lost opener Islam Ali in the first over but Ghewar Rebari played a quick fire innings to give no chances of J&K coming back in the game. He remained not out on 70 runs of just 25 balls with the help of 14 boundaries. Nikhil Maharshi remained unbeaten on 14 runs.