File photo – Ambati Rayudu managed only one four and one six in his innings of 30 © AFP
Puneet Datey took four wickets while Sohraab Dhaliwal picked up another three to help Madhya Pradesh complete their fifth straight win of the tournament, defeating Vidarbha by eight runs in Jaipur.
Chasing 136, Vidarbha lost regular wickets. Ganesh Satish (35) and Ambati Rayudu (30) were the only two to reach 30 while seven other batsmen fell for single-digit scores. At 72 for 3 in the 13th over, Vidarbha could have pushed for the win but with four wickets falling for the next 18 runs – two each to Datey and Dhaliwal – MP regained any lost momentum. Rayudu was eighth out with Vidarbha 25 away from their target and with that went Vidarbha’s search for a win as they folded at the start of the 20th over.
Having chosen to bat, MP scored their lowest first-innings total of the tournament. They were kept in check by Lalit Yadav, who took three wickets and only conceded 19 in his four overs. Lalit dismissed both openers, reducing MP to 19 for 2 before a 93-run third wicket partnership between Harpreet Singh (53 off 46 balls) and Parth Sahani (40* off 34) took them past the 100-run mark. Harpreet fell soon after but Sahani carried on to push MP to finish at 135 for 5.
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo