Saha scores ton on return, Bengal defeat Arunachal
Cuttack:wicketkeeper batsman Wriddhiman Saha, who has battled injuries in the past two years, made a smashing comeback with a 62-ball knock of 129 runs for Bengal against Arunachal Pradesh in the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 tournament on Wednesday. This is Saha’s second century of his T20 career. His first hundred had come way back in 2014 during the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Saha opened the batting for Bengal and managed to strike 16 fours and four sixes to allow the team to post a score of 234/6. The team got further boost by Vivek Singh’s 18 ball knock of 49.
Consequently, Bengal registered a convincing 107 run victory over Arunachal Pradesh.
In other matches, Mumbai suffered their first loss against Railways in the tournament. Chasing 176, Mumbai were bowled out for 118 losing the match by 57 runs. Prithvi Shaw, Ajinkya Rahane and Shreyas Iyer failed to get the team off to a good start.
Karnataka captain Vinay Kumar’s cameo helped the team to win the match against Chhattisgarh. Karnataka were set a target of 172 by Chhattisgarh. Karnataka needed 62 off 30 balls, Vinay Kumar smashed a 14-ball 34 courtesy four sixes allowing his team to register a win. Brief scores:
At Indore: Railways 175/5 (Pratham Singh 89; Tushar Deshpande 3/44) won against Mumbai 118 all out (Surya Kumar Yadav 38; Ashish Yadav 4/32, Amit Mishra 2/14) by 57 runs.
At Indore: Sikkim 90/8 (Milind 37; Baltej Singh 2/13, Krishan Alang 2/17) lost to Punjab 95/1 (Shubman Gill 70 not out) by nine wickets.
At Surat: Tamil Nadu 138/9 (Murli Vijay 77; Ankit Rajan Maini 3/29, KD Singh 2/30) lost to Himachal Pradesh 139/3 (PS Chopra 68 not out; Abhishek Tanwar 2/14) by seven wickets.
At Surat: Vidarbha 161/6 (SU Srivastava 56) won against Meghalaya 129/4 (Gurinder Singh 56 not out; Yash Thakur 2/27) by 32 runs.
At Mulapadu: Delhi 175/8 (Unmukt Chand 70, Lalit Yadav 31) beat Andhra Pradesh (Ashwin Hebbar 38; Subhodh Bhati 4/27).
At Indore: Goa 196/3 (Amit Verma 109 not out, Suyash Prabhudessai 46 not out; Iswar Pandey 2/26) lost to Madhya Pradesh 197/6 (Parth Sahani 68; Felix Alemao 2/25) by four wickets.
THE BEGINNING
Jhulan, who made her debut 17 years ago and holds the world record for ODI wickets (215), had to carry the burden of pace bowling alone for a long time. Though Amita Sharma and Rumeli Dhar partnered her earlier, they never appeared threatening.
Jhulan’s search for an able ally finally ended in August 2014 when Shikha Pandey, 25, who hails from Karimnagar, now in Telengana, donned the national colours. With her ability to swing the ball prodigiously, Shikha superbly complemented Jhulan, who is known for extracting bounce using her height.
The two have since emerged India’s favoured new-ball pair, playing a stellar role in the team’s success. They made vital contributions in the 2017 ODI World Cup in England; Jhulan claimed 10 wickets at an average
PURPLE PATCH
Jhulan, 36, and Shikha, 29, have emerged the standout pace duo in women’s ODIS in the last two years. They top the averages for pacers who have taken at least 20 wickets post January 1, 2017. Jhulan has taken 38 wickets from 25 games at 18.47 to top the list while Shikha is next with a tally of 46 wickets from 31 games at 19.30.
Their brilliant show has also helped India top the bowling averages in this phase -- 21.69. The pair wreaked havoc sharing four wickets apiece against England in the second ODI in Mumbai on Monday.
Shikha and Jhulan will be in action again on Thursday when India take on England in the third ODI at the Wankhede Stadium, and will get another opportunity to exploit the bounce and movement usually available on the ground.