KOLKATA: Jharkhand began their campaign in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in style as they earned a thrilling four-wicket win against Puducherry in their Group D opener in Mohali on Tuesday evening.
Chasing 189 to win, they didn't have a great start as both the openers struggled to get things going. While Vivek Kumar departed for five, Saurabh Tiwary wasn't able to free his hands and could make just 18 off 26 balls with one four.
However, the arrival of Vikash Vishal (27 off 15 balls) and then Virat Singh (27 off 20 balls) turned things around for Jharkhand as both of them got into the act quickly. Sadly, neither of them could stay long and Jharkhand were reduced to 100 for 5 in the 13th over.
With 89 needed off 42 balls, at that moment a Jharkhand win seemed quite unlikely. But Anukul Roy (43 off 21 balls) had other plans as he joined hands with Pankaj Kumar (35 not out off 20 balls) and took the Puducherry bowling apart.
The duo scored 64 off just 29 balls as Jharkhand raced towards victory. Together they hit four fours and five sixes as Puducherry saw the game slowly slip away. But with 25 needed off 15, Roy was run out and Puducherry were back in the game once again.
To Jharkhand's delight, Supriyo Chakraborty, who came to the middle after Roy's departure, hit two huge sixes in the 19th over off Sagar Udeshi to settle the nerves in the Jharkhand dressing room. After that Jharkhand needed just three off the last over and they had no problem getting it.
Earlier, KB Arun Karthick (66 not out), Akash Kargave (61) and Parameeshwaran S (37) helped Puducherry put up a formidable total as Jharkhand bowlers failed to trouble them. Rahul Shukla was the pick of them with figures of 3 for 34.
Brief scores: Puducherry 188/4 in 20 overs (KB Arun Karthick 66 n.o., A Kargave 61, Parameeshwaran S 37; R Shukla 3/34). Jharkhand 189/6 in 19.3 overs (A Roy 43, P Kumar 35n.o.; F Ahmed 2/29). Jharkhand won by 4 wickets
