Bengal, Chhattisgarh win cliffhangers

Chhattisgarh pulled off a thrilling one-run win over Uttarakhand in one of the 16 matches played on the fifth day of the inter-state Under-23 Twenty20 tournament on Friday (January 19).

Opting to bat first, Chhattisgarh got a good start from their opening pair of Shivi Pandey, the captain, and Deepika Tiwari. They put on 70 runs in 11.2 overs before Pooja Raj bowled Tiwari for 20.

Pandey was run out soon after that after making 40 off 44 balls, which included five fours. There was not much batting on offer after that, but Chhattisgarh still put on a decent 107 on the board before being dismissed with a ball to spare. Riya Kawat was Uttarakhand’s best bowler with figures of 3 for 11. Dimpa Kandari supported her well with 2 for 17.

Uttarakhand had little answer against the bowling pair of Ritu Meshram and Shraddha Vaishnava, both of who picked up three wickets each. They needed eight runs in the final over with three wickets in hand, but were bowled out for 106 with one ball to go.

Bengal looked in control of their chase of 70 against Karnataka before losing four wickets in a space of five runs to be reduced to 69 for 9 in 15.5 overs. The last-wicket pair of SP Aich and Nisha Maji failed to score for ten balls before Aich hit the winning boundary.

The other close match was the one between Gujarat and Andhra. Chasing 72, Andhra lost the plot to fall short by eight runs. Neither N Anusha nor E Padmaja could support V Pushpa Latha (21). M Bhavana was unbeaten on ten when Andhra were dismissed with an over to spare. Muskan Vasava, Renuka Chaudhari, the captain, and Hiralben Solanki took two wickets each to script the victory for Gujarat.

S Meghana made an unbeaten 61 to help Railways chase down 118 against Vidarbha.

R Sandhya Mounika became the first Pondicherry batter to make a century. Her unbeaten 107 off 79 balls (22 fours) set the tone for a massive win over Mizoram.

Results:

Group A

Baroda beat Kerala by eight wickets

Punjab beat Meghalaya by ten wickets

Uttar Pradesh beat Manipur by ten wickets

Group B

Maharashtra beat Assam by 63 runs

Jharkhand beat Rajasthan by eight wickets

Hyderabad beat Nagaland by nine wickets

Group C

Mumbai beat Himachal Pradesh by 14 runs

Delhi beat Arunachal Pradesh by ten wickets

Haryana beat Tripura by eight wickets

Group D

Chhattisgarh beat Uttarakhand by one run

Gujarat beat Andhra by eight runs

Bengal beat Karnataka by one wicket

Group E

Madhya Pradesh beat Jammu and Kashmir by seven wickets

Railways beat Vidarbha by eight wickets

Odisha beat Saurashtra by 49 runs

Pondicherry beat Mizoram by 150 runs