New Delhi: A combined batting effort on Wednesday helped the Indian men’s blind cricket team beat Sri Lanka by 7 wickets in the third T20 of the Samarth Championship for Blind Cricket, an International Bilateral Blind Men’s Cricket series here in Karnail Singh Stadium, Delhi.
Pankaj Bhue, Dinesh Rathva, Naresh Tumda and Lokesh all contributed as India chased down the target with 27 balls to spare. Batting first Sri Lanka had posted 162/3 in the allotted 20 overs following a fifty by Chandana Deshapriya.
With this win, India has claimed the Samarth Championship for Blind Cricket, an International bilateral blind men’s cricket series with two more matches to go. India currently lead the five-match series 3-0. India’s Pankaj Bhue was named the Player of the Match.
India won the toss and elected to field first. Sri Lanka got off to a decent start but lost two wickets inside the power play. In a must win match, Deshapriya and skipper Damith Sandaruwan then started rebuilding the innings.
While Deshapriya scored 76 runs in 63 balls, Sandaruwan scored 46 in 47 balls as Sri Lanka posted 162/3 in the allotted 20 overs. For India, Pankaj Bhue picked a wicket. Chasing 163, India started off well scoring 75 runs in the first 8 overs. Pankaj and Dinesh laid the platform for the chase as Men In Blue looked all set to claim the series.
India lost Dinesh in the 8th over while Pankaj in 12th over but that didn’t derail the chase as the hosts looked quite comfortable in quest of the target. Naresh Tumda and Lokesha made sure India get over the line in the 16th over, asserting their dominance over the visiting side in the ongoing series. India made 164/3 in 15.3 overs.
Having won the Samarth Championship for Blind Cricket, an International bilateral blind men’s cricket series 3-0, India and Sri Lanka will now meet in fourth T20 on Thursday. The match will begin at 9:30 am in Karnail Singh Stadium in Delhi.
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