Skipper Ravichandran Ashwin’s six for 61 and a sparkling 102 (120b, 13x4, 4x6) from opener K. Bharat Shankar were the highlights of TNCA XI’s three-wicket win over Uttar Pradesh CA in the Kalpathi all-India Buchi Babu tournament here on Friday.
Despite a fight-back from Uttar Pradesh that saw the side recovering to a combative 279 with Akashadeep Nath making 83 (112b, 14x4) TNCA XI clinched it thanks to an opening stand of 155 between Bharat and M. Kaushik Gandhi (89, 172b, 7x4).
The other four matches got underway only on day two and the number of overs was reduced.
In a Group ‘A’ match, Karnataka outplayed Bengal by nine wickets. Bengal could manage only 171 for eight in 43 overs with captain Anustup Majumdar top-scoring with 58 (82b, 4x4, 1x6); Karnataka’s reply was emphatic with Ganesh Satish (58 not out, 105b, 1x6) and Manish Pandey (54 not out, 49b, 6x4) closing out the match.
Paceman Sunil Sam’s six for 43 was the key performance for TNCA President’s XI in its five-wicket win over Assam.
Robert Fernandez (120, 144b, 11x4, 1x6) and left-arm spinner C.P. Shahid (five for 77) combined well to provide Kerala an eleven-run win over Baroda. Viraj Bhonsale’s 102 (121b, 12x4, 2x6) went in vain.
Riding on Sunny Singh’s 82 (77b, 7x4, 1x6), Haryana defeated Hyderabad by 62 runs at the RKM-Vivekananda ground.
The scores:
Group ‘A’: Bengal 171 for eight in 43 overs (Anustup Majumdar 58, Shrivats Goswami 42 not out, Abhimanyu Mithun three for nine) lost to Karnataka 173 for one in 37.5 overs (Abhishek Reddy 45 retd hurt, Ganesh Satish 58 not out, Manish Pandey 54 not out). Points: Karnataka 4, Bengal 0 .
Group ‘B’: Uttar Pradesh CA 279 in 78.1 overs (Mukul Dagar 38 retd hurt, Akashadeep Nath 83, Praveen Kumar 36, R. Ashwin six for 61) lost to TNCA XI 280 for seven in 74.4 overs (K. Bharat Shankar 102, M. Kaushik Gandhi 89, Ashwin Venkataraman 34, V. Maaruthi Raghav 33 not out. Kuldeep Yadav three for 98). TNCA XI 4, UPCA 0 .
Group ‘C’: Haryana 215 for six in 38 overs (Sunny Singh 82, Nitin Saini 36, Ajay Jadeja 37) bt Hyderabad 153 in 37.3 overs (H. Vihari 45, A. Shinde 32, Ashish Hooda three for 12). Haryana 4, Hyderabad 0 .
Assam 138 in 42.5 overs (J. Syed Mohammad 49, Sunil Sam six for 43, R. Aushik Srinivas three for 27) lost to TNCA President’s XI 139 for five in 42 overs (B. Indrajith 40 not out). TNCA President’s XI 4, Assam 0 .
Group ‘D’: Kerala 235 for six in 50 overs (Robert Fernandez 120, Vinoop Manoharan 38 not out, Vishnu Vinod 39) bt Baroda 224 in 48.5 overs (Viraj Bhonsale 102, Anupam Gupta 52, C.P. Shahid five for 77, P. Prasanth three for 65). Kerala 4, Baroda 0 .
