Sanju Samson’s fantastic century wasn’t sufficient for Kerala because it fell wanting Railways’ goal by 18 runs.
| Photo Credit: File picture
Kerala missed a golden alternative to e-book a quarterfinal berth within the 2023-24 Vijay Hazare Trophy after it misplaced its final group-stage match to Railways by 18 runs on the Kini Sports Arena Ground right here on Tuesday.
With Mumbai, in a parallel encounter, succumbing to its second straight dispiriting defeat, this time to Odisha by 86 runs on the Alur Cricket Stadium, all Kerala needed to do was beat Railways to emerge atop Group-A.
Despite Sanju Samson’s fantastic century (128, 139b, 8×4, 6×6), Kerala couldn’t chase down Railways’ 256-run goal. Kerala and Mumbai completed on 20 factors every, however the latter took first place by advantage of getting overwhelmed Kerala earlier within the competitors.
Kerala will thus meet Maharashtra within the pre-quarterfinal on Dec. 2, with the winner set to face Rajasthan within the final eight. Mumbai will sq. up towards Tamil Nadu in a marquee quarterfinal conflict on Dec.11.
After selecting to subject, Kerala lowered Railways to 19 for 2, just for the Sahab Yuvraj Singh (121 n.o., 136b, 13×4, 1×6) and Pratham Singh (61, 77b, 2×4, 3×6) to come back collectively for a 148-run partnership. Yuvraj Singh then mixed for 62 runs with captain and wicket-keeper Upendra Yadav (31, 27b, 3×4, 1×6) to hold Railways to a aggressive whole.
The Kerala top-order failed, first lowered to 26 for 3 after which 59 for 4. But Samson and Shreyas Gopal (53, 63b, 5×4) rebuilt the innings with a 138-run affiliation.
However, Shreyas’ dismissal within the forty fifth over, and the double blow of shedding Abdul Bazith and Akhil Scaria — each succesful batters — for the addition of zero runs, left the pursuit even past Samson.
At Alur, Mumbai couldn’t chase down a 200-run goal and was bundled out for 113. That No. 11 batter Royston H. Dias was the top-scorer (24, 16b, 2×4, 2×6) instructed the story. Only Kerala’s generosity saved Mumbai from further embarrassment.
