Raina gets back to old form, hits ton in UP’s huge win
LUCKNOW: Team India discard Suresh Raina on Monday exhibited his old touch with willow, hitting a breezy and unbeaten century to help former champions Uttar Pradesh crush Bengal by 75 runs in their opening Super League match of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Twenty20 Trophy in Kolkata.
Left-hander Raina, who was struggling with his form in as many as 10 matches across all formats in domestic circuit for the last few months, smashed his fourth T20 hundred in style. Such a knock was very much due from the UP skipper, who has been retained by Chennai Super Kings ahead of the IPL auction.
Almost eight years ago in May 2010, Raina had became the first Indian batsman to crack a Twenty20 international century after making a breezy 60-ball 101 against South Africa in a World Cup match in St Lucia in South Africa.
On Monday Raina’s unbeaten 59-ball 126, which contained 13 fours and seven sixes, guided Uttar Pradesh post 235/3 in 20 overs while batting first after winning the toss, at the placid turf of the Eden Gardens. Bengal in reply, couldn’t even bat their full quota of overs and were folded at 160 in 16.1 overs.
Raina, who joined opener Shivam Chaudhary on the very fourth ball of the innings at the fall of fellow opener Samarth Singh, who was caught by Shreevats Goswami off Ashok Dinda in the very first over on duck, looked confident from the very first ball. He along with Shivam added 55-run for the opening wicket before having a perfect partner in Akshdeep Nath, who also smashed 80 in 43 balls with the help of seven fours and four sixes.
Their 163-run third-wicket partnership helped the side cross 200-run mark. Sarfaraz Khan remained unbeaten on 10, which contained two hits to the fence. After Raina and Nath exploits with willow, it was the turn of China man bowler Kuldeep Yadav to dictate terms.
The young bowler from Kanpur, finished with his best figures 4/26 this domestic season. He had the wickets of Shreevats Goswami, Sudip Chatterjee, Pramod Chandila and Anustup Majumdar. Both Goswami (57,
ALMOST EIGHT YEARS AGO IN MAY 2010, RAINA HAD BECAME THE FIRST INDIAN BATSMAN TO CRACK A TWENTY20 INTERNATIONAL CENTURY AFTER MAKING A BREEZY 60BALL 101 AGAINST SOUTH AFRICA IN A WORLD CUP MATCH IN ST LUCIA IN SOUTH AFRICA
28b, 7x4, 3x6 ) and Sudip (36, 25b, 4x4) made useful contributions, but that wasn’t enough to help the side cross UP’s total.
Young left-arm seamer Mohsin Multan Khan too underlined his potential, bagging 3/35, whereas Praveen Kumar, Ankit Rajpoot and Shivam Chaudhary shared three wickets between them. Now, UP play against Tamil Nadu in their second match on Tuesday. SCORECARD Uttar Pradesh: S Singh c S Goswami b A Dinda 0, S Chaudhary c S Chatterjee b W Chatterjee 8, S Raina not out 126, A Nath c W Chatterjee b M Kumar 80, S Khan not out 10. Extras (nb2, w8, lb1) 11. Total (for 3 wkts; 20 overs) 235.
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-55, 3-218.
Bowling: A Dinda 4-0-29-1, M Kumar 4-0-63-1, S Ghosh 3-0-43-0, W Chatterjee 3-0-29-1, P Pramanik 2-0-24-0, M Tiwary 3-0-34-0, V Singh 1-0-12-0.
Bengal: S Goswami c S Singh b K Yadav 57, V Singh c K Yadav b S Chaudhary 16, M Tiwary c A Nath b P Kumar 1, S Chatterjee c S Raina b K Yadav 36, P Chandila c S Singh b K Yadav 2, A Majumdar c S Khan b K Yadav 0, W Chatterjee c S Singh b MM Khan 14, P Pramanik c S Chaudhary b MM Khan 9, A Dinda c R Singh b MM Khan 1, S Ghosh not out 8, M Kumar c A Nath b A Rajpoot 1. Extras (w4, lb11) 15. Total (all out; 16.1 overs) 160.
Fall of wickets: 1-65, 2-74, 3-119, 4-122, 5-122, 6-131, 7-149, 8-151, 9-151.
Bowling: P Kumar 3-0-24-1, A Rajpoot 2.1-0-20-1, MM Khan 3-035-3, S Chaudhary 1-0-15-1, K Yadav 4-0-26-4, S Raina 1-1-9-0, S Kumar 2-0-2-0.