HT launch campaign in SBI Media Cup with a thrilling victory
LUCKNOW : Defending champions Hindustan Times on Tuesday launched their campaign in the SBI Media Cup Twenty20 Tournament, registering a thrilling two-wicket win over The Pioneer, at the KD Singh ‘Babu’ Stadium here. In other league match of the day, Electronics Media Eleven beat digital Media by 43 runs.
Despite scuttling out The Pioneer for 91 in 19 overs after being sent to field first, Hindustan Times kept struggling from the very start, losing two quick wickets for just 15 in three overs. A 37-run thirdwicket partnership between skipper Abhinav Shukla (37, 29b, 5x4) and Amit Srivastava (8) gave some solidity to the innings.
But the two departed in quick succession and at one stage Hindustan Times were struggling at 82/8 in 14.2 overs.
Most of the batsmen almost threw their wickets, but thanks to some patience batting by Sandeep Srivastava (11, 7b, 1x40 and Abhishek (4), who helped the side reach home in 16.4 overs without being separated. For The Pioneer, Shalabh Saxena took 3/23, whereas Pradeep and Ramakant shared four wickets between them.
Earlier, it was left-arm seamer Manish Singh, who helped Hindustan Times, off to a flying start, bagging 3/17 to see The Pioneer struggling at 4/26. Ashu Bajpai (27, 30b) remained the only one, who could touch the double figure mark as The Pioneer kept losing wickets on regular intervals before being bundled out for 91 in 19 overs.
Rohit Singh chipped in 2/18, whereas Abhinav Shukla was later named man-of-the-match. Now, HT play their second league match against Photo Journalists XI on February 1 at 9.00 a.m.
BRIEF SCORES The Pioneer 91 in 19 overs
(Ashu Bajpai 27, Manish Singh 3/17, Rohit K Singh 2/18) lost to Hindustan Times 92/8 in 16.4 overs (Abhinav Shukla 37, Sandeep Srivastava 11*, Shalabh Saxena 3/23, Pradeep 2/13, Ramakant 2/27).
Electronics Media XI 167 in 20 overs (Akash Mahajan 40, Ashish 23*, Martand 21, Saurabh Singh 3/22, Devanshu 2/32) beat Digital Media 124 in 19.4 overs (Sunny Buddhiraja 30, Saurah Singh 27, Alok Upadhyay 17, Faheem 3/23, Rajeev Srivastava 3/23).
RAVI, KAJAL SHINE
Ravi Pal in men and Kajal Sharma in women emerged victorious in the 1st Raja Digvijay Singh Memorial cross-country at the Bakshi Ka Talab here on Tuesday. Gaurav Yadav and Reena Sharma finished top in the boys and girls sections, respectively.
Around seven hundred athletes from all parts of the state took part. The distance was 12.5 kilometers for men, eight kilometers for women, five kilometers for boys and girls. In the men’s Shravan Kumar stood second, whereas Younus Shah finished third. In the women’s section, Pooja Patel had to settle for second place, while Nisha finished third.