Madhya Pradesh opener Sumit Kushwah put his team in the driver’s seat with a well-crafted, unbeaten century (100 batting, 269b, 10x4, 1x6) against Delhi on the opening day of the Take Sports All India Buchi Babu tournament final here on Friday.
Electing to bat, MP finished on a strong 271 for three, thanks to valuable half-centuries from opener Arham Aqueel (65) and later Aniket Verma (68). It was the second century in as many games for the 21-year-old after he scored one against TNCA XI in the semifinals in Dindigul last week. He looked compact in his defence and took his time in slowly accumulating runs.
On an easy batting surface at the Sri Ramakrishna College ground, MP had no hesitation in opting to bat first, and Aqueel led the way with two crisp cover drives in the first over off left-arm pacer Siddhant Sharma. Kushwah and the left-handed Aqueel set the platform with a 110-run opening-wicket stand, with the latter playing some clean drives through the off-side.
Later, Aniket Verma boosted the scoring rate as he took on the spinners by lofting them down the ground repeatedly in a 115-run stand for the third wicket with Kushwah. In the final session, Kushwah played with more freedom, cutting and pulling the spinners whenever they erred in length.
It was a hard toil for the Delhi bowlers, and things could have been different had Arpit Rana held on to a sharp chance at short-leg off Shokeen when Kushwah was on 53.
The scores: Madhya Pradesh 271/3 in 89 overs (Arham Aqueel 65, Sumit Kushwah 100 batting, Aniket Verma 68) vs Delhi. Toss: MP.
