Wrecker-in-chief: Akhil Scaria & Co. bundled out Pondicherry for 116, which was simply chased down by the Kerala batters.
| Photo Credit: N. Sudarshan
Kerala stored up its profitable momentum within the 2023-24 Vijay Hazare Trophy with a six-wicket win over Pondicherry on the Alur Cricket Stadium right here on Sunday.
Asked to bat first, Pondicherry may accumulate simply 116, with medium pacer Akhil Scaria and left-arm spinner Sijomon Joseph snaring three wickets every (3/15 and three/2 respectively). But for captain Fabid Ahmed (44, 49b, 3×4, 2×6) and opener Akash Kargave (25, 27b, 6×4), not one Pondicherry batter crossed 15.
In reply, Kerala knocked off the runs in below 20 overs, with Sachin Baby (25 n.o., 38b, 4×4) and Sanju Samson (35 n.o., 13b, 4×4, 3×6) the highest scorers.
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Kerala is now tied on factors with Mumbai on the high of Group A (20 factors) after the latter suffered a 53-run defeat (VJD) methodology to Tripura on the Kini Sports Arena Ground.
Wriddhiman Saha’s band of merrymakers, who earlier embarrassed defending champion Saurashtra, made 288 for 5 after being requested to make first use of the pitch.
There had been half-centuries from Bikram Kumar Das (70, 78b, 8×4, 1×6), Sudip Chatterjee (60, 78b, 6×4), Ganesh Satish (50, 69b, 4×4) and Manisankar Murasingh (55 n.o., 26b, 5×4, 3×6) because the Mumbai tempo assault comprising Shardul Thakur, Tushar Deshpande and Mohit Avasthi conceded 167 runs from 28 overs.
Inclement climate lowered Mumbai’s goal to 265 from 43 overs, however Ajinkya Rahane & Co. fell nicely wanting the mark. The skipper made a valiant 78 (84b, 7×4, 1×6), and within the firm of Sarfaraz Khan (26, 26b, 1×4, 1×6) regarded set to hold his crew to victory.
But from 159 for 3, Mumbai misplaced Rahane, Sarfaraz and Shams Mulani for the addition of simply seven runs. Prasad Pawar and Shardul, who had bailed the crew out in opposition to Saurashtra within the earlier recreation, couldn’t produce a repeat efficiency, scoring simply 10 and 13 runs respectively.
The seasoned Murasingh shone with the ball too, returning wonderful figures of 4 for 23 (8.1-3-23-4) to assist Tripura in one more giant-killing act.
