Harpreet guides Central to win over West, North thump South
MUMBAI: Harpreet Singh struck a brilliant half century as Central beat starstudded West by six wickets in the inaugural match of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, here at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday. Chasing West’s target of 161, Harpreet (62) was well assisted by Ambati Rayadu (24) and Mahesh Rawat (30*) as the ‘men in red’ chased down the target with 10 balls to spare.
West were in a precarious situation before Deepak Hooda (49*) and Aditya Tare (40) bailed the side out.
At 61/5, Tare stitched a 41-run partnership with Hooda to bring back West into the match.
While Tare struck five boundaries and a six in his 33-ball knock, Hooda hammered four sixes and two boundaries. After Tare’s dismissal, he continued the carnage with the tailenders as his side took 42 off the last three overs.
Harmeet was the star of the chase. The Madhya Pradesh lad struck four sixes and two boundaries to ensure the chase never lost steam. When he fell in the 18th over, his side was three runs away from victory.
GAMBHIR FIRES
Half-centuries from Gautam Gambhir and Shikhar Dhawan helped North trump South by eight wickets. South had done their best to post a challenging total of 173 riding on Ricky Bhui’s (50) and a late cameo by Vijay Shankar (34* off 15). But against a side that boasted of Gambhir, Dhawan, Yuvraj Singh and Rishabh Pant, that total was bound to fall short.
Gambhir started off with three boundaries in the first over. By the end of the powerplay, North had picked up 46 runs without losing a wicket. They picked up 54 runs off the next five overs with Dhawan joining in the blitz.
BRIEF SCORES:
West 160/8 (Aditya Tare 40, Deepak Hooda 49; Aniket Chaudhary 3/47) lost to Central (Harpreet Singh 62, Mahesh Rawat 30*) by 6 wkts. South 173/5 (M Agarwal 32, R Bhui 50, V Shankar 34 *; A Nehra 2/35) lost to North 176/2 (S Dhawan 50, G Gambhir 81, R Pant 33 *) by 8 wickets.