Cheers for MS Dhoni but his side Jharkhand lose opener
The shot was on because fine-leg was up but MS Dhoni’s attempted scoop, off debutant medium-pacer T Pradeep, brushed his pads before disturbing the furniture. Dhoni’s 50-ball 43 with three fours and two sixes, wasn’t enough and Jharkhand, set 267 to win, lost by five runs to Karnataka in this Vijay Hazare Trophy opener at Eden.
For Karnataka, skipper Manish Pandey made 77 (95b; 6x4; 2x6) and R Samarth 71.
Dhoni failed to get to a stiff chance, off medium-pacer Anand Singh, and it gave Pawan Deshpande a boundary in the fifth ball of the 33rd over. Two overs later, he gave four byes though that had more to do with left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem’s straying down leg.
From adisastrous3/2, Jharkhand recovered to 61/3 through Ishant Jaggi (25) and Ishan Kishan (36). With over 1000 people in, Dhoni came in when Kishan fell. Jharkhand had been reduced to 79/4 after 19.1 overs.
He survived a shout for leg-before off K Gowtham and started scratchily. After facing 22 balls, Dhonihadmade8. HoikingGowtham to mid-wicket for six made it 14 off 23 and from then on, Dhoni rotated the strike against medium-pacers and went after the spinners. With Saurabh Tiwary, Dhoni added 81 but fell trying to force the pace in 38th over. That he left the Eden with the media swarming around him and fans chantin g his name was proof that it didn’t matter to most who won or lost on Saturday. BRIEF SCORES Karnataka 266 in 49.4 ovs (Pandey 77; R Shukla 4/45) beat Jharkhand 261 in 49. 5 ovs (Tiwary 68; Dhoni 43; Gowtham 4/58).