Hyderabad: Deepak Malik of Haryana stole the limelight in the final day of the Group 8s stage as he scored a massive double hundred helping his team thrash Chandigarh by 206 runs in the IndusInd Bank Nagesh Trophy National T20 Cricket for the Blind being played here in the Masters Cricket Ground. Andhra Pradesh beat Odisha in a closely fought encounter by 7 runs to secure the top position in Group A while Karnataka sealed top honours in Group B beating Gujarat by 17 runs. Delhi beat Jharkhand by 58 runs in the other match concluding the Super 8 proceedings of the tournament. Defending Champions Andhra Pradesh will face Gujarat in the first semifinals and last edition’s runners up Karnataka will meet Odisha in the second semifinals which will be played tomorrow.
In their final match of Super 8, both Haryana and Chandigarh were looking to register their first wins. Deepak Malik single-handedly batted out the opposition, scoring a massive unbeaten 220 of 100 balls with the help of 41 boundaries. Winning the toss and batting first, Haryana scored 276/4 in their 20 overs helped by Deepak’s batting prowess. Such was his dominance that no other batter scored in double digits with Extras contributing as the next top scorer with 40. Ved Prakash inflicted three runouts in the innings for Chandigarh. Chasing a huge target, Chandigarh were blown away by Haryana as their innings folded at 70 in 18.4 overs. Mau Jahid Khan was the only batter in double figures scoring 19 runs. Rambir Singh returned with figures of 3/10 while Deepak Malik, Ram Kumar, Rohit Sharma and Sunil Kumar took a wicket each.
In the other match of Group A, Andhra were given a mighty scare by Odisha as they scraped through a 7 run victory to secure top place in the group. Odisha sent Andhra to bat first after winning the toss. Andhra openers, T. Durga Rao and D. Venkateswara Rao put together 148 runs for the opening wicket with D. Venkateswara Rao scoring a brilliant century and captain Durga Rao supporting him with a well-made 54 runs. Venkateswara Rao scored 102 of 53 balls with the help of 14 boundaries and three sixes. Ajay Kumar Reddy (17) and A. Ravi (16) pushed Andhra’s score past 200, the innings ending on 202/4 in 20 overs. Debaraj Behera nad Md. Jafar Iqbal took a wicket each for Odisha. In reply, Odisha were scoring runs at a good pace but Andhra pushed them back with wickets at regular intervals. Opener Sukhram Majhi continued to score runs from the other end but ran out of partners to take his team over the line. He remained unbeaten on 95 runs. Odisha ended their innings on 195/9 in their 20 overs.
In Group B, played at AYR Cricket Ground, Karnataka beat Gujarat to go ahead to the semifinals as the group winners. Winning the toss and batting first, Karnataka posted a total of 202/3 in their 20 overs. Openers Prakash Jayaramaiah and Lokesha scored 70 of just 8 overs to give them a good start. Prakash scored 40 while Lokesha played a brisk innings of 55 runs. The innings was given a final push by Sunil Ramesh who scored 71 of 34 balls to take Karnataka’s score past 200. Zena Kesare and Ahir Milan took a wicket each for Gujarat. Chasing a big target, Gujarat did not start well as they lost both their openers inside 5 overs. Naresh Tumda and Zina Kesare started building the innings and put together a 64 runs partnership for the third wicket. Gujarat lost three wickets for three runs which broke their momentum in the chase and they could not recover from there eventually ending their innings after losing the last wicket in the last ball of the innings for 185 runs. Ganesh Bhusara top scored with 49 runs, while Zena scored 36 and Naresh 24. For Karnataka, Sunil Ramesh returned with figures of 3/31 and Krishna Sai took 2/26.
In the final match of the Super 8 stage, Delhi finished their tournament with a win over Jharkhand. Batting first, Delhi scored 204/4 in their 20 overs. Manish Kumar top scored with 73 runs, while Alok Kumar scored 31, Nilesh Yadav 26 and Irfan Diwan 22 to take Delhi’s score past 200. In reply, Jharkhand’s top four got good starts but could not play long enough to take their team to victory. Nishit Bara scored 31 while Rahul Soren scored 24 runs. Sanjeev Kerketta remained unbeaten on 31 and Golu Kumar scored 22. Mukesh Kumar Rawat was the pick of the bowlers for Delhi returning with figures of 2/31.
Tomorrow’s Matches
Semifinals – Ayr Cricket Ground
Andhra Pradesh vs Gujarat – 9 AM
Odisha vs Karnataka – 1 PM
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