Tiwary powers Jharkhand

After showing signs of regaining his touch in Jharkhand’s second game against Gujarat on Friday, the limelight once again was on India limited-overs captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, when his team faced Kerala in a Group ‘B’ match here at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Sunday.

It was, however, the left-handed batsman Saurabh Tiwary who stole the show, slamming a smashing unbeaten 87 to guide Jharkhand to a thumping five-wicket win even as Dhoni failed to impress.    

Put into bat, Kerala piled up a decent total of 236 for eight, largely on the back of half-centuries from VA Jagadeesh (60) and captain Sachin Baby (61). Right-arm medium pacer Rahul Shukla was the pick of the bowlers for Jharkhand, with figures of three for 47. The 25-year-old was disciplined in his line and length and bagged the crucial wicket of attacking batsman Sanju Samson (18) early in the innings.

Jharkhand’s chase was on the slower side and after the loss of three wickets within the first 20 overs for 80 runs, the Varun Aaron-led side needed a solid partnership to get the match back in their control. The duo of Tiwary and Dhoni (18) dished out a crucial 49-run stand and after the fall of the latter, Tiwary forged an alliance of 75 runs with Kaushal Singh (48) to take his side past the target in 47 overs.

Tiwary, fresh from his unbeaten double hundred (209) against Hyderabad in their final Group C game in the Ranji Trophy earlier this month, was on top of Kerala bowlers right from the start. Dealing both pace and spin in equal aggression, Tiwary slammed seven fours and a six in his 94-ball knock. Kaushal too played his part with his quickfire 48 and the right-handed batsman pushed the Kerala bowlers on the back foor with his attacking style of batting. With four fours and a six, Kaushal ensured Jharkhand stayed in the driver’s seat even as the opposition bowlers toiled hard to get the breakthrough.

Dhoni began well with rotating strike and providing the set Tiwary to take charge. Just when it seemed that the right-hander would bat through the innings, Dhoni stepped down the track in his attempt to flick one to leg side but closed the face of the bat too early and offered a return catch to left-arm spinner Fabid Ahmed. Dhoni’s 36-minute stay involved just one four and the 34-year old consumed 31 balls.

Earlier, Sachin Baby, who was dropped on 16, produced a captain’s knock and along with opener Jagadeesh, stitched useful 77 runs to give his bowlers something to defend.

score board

KERALA: V Jagadeesh c Anand b Das 60 (98b, 6x4), Mohammed Azharuddeen lbw Jaskaran 0 (1b), Sanju Samson c Jaggi b Shukla 18 (30b, 2x4), Rohan Prem c Jaggi b Nadeem 10 (23b, 1x4), Sachin Baby c Dabas b Shukla 61 (96b, 8x4), Akshaya MK b Aaron 12 (19b, 1x4), Prasanth Padmanabhan (not out) 34 (18b, 3x4, 2x6), Fabid Ahmed c Anand b Shukla 8 (15b), Manu Krishnan (run out) 9 (4b, 2x4). Extras (LB-8, W-12, NB-4) 24. Total (for 8 wkts, 50 overs) 236.

Fall of wickets: 1-6 (Azharudeen), 2-57 (Samson), 3-84 (Prem), 4-161 (Jagadeesh), 5-181 (Baby), 6-184 (Akshaya), 7-226 (Ahmed), 8-236 (Krishnan).

Bowling: Jaskaran 7-0-50-1 (w-4), Varun Aaron 10-0-52-1 (w-5, nb-4), Rahul Shukla 10-0-47-3 (w-3), Kaushal Singh 4-1-22-0, Ankit Dabas 10-1-29-1, Shahbaz Nadeem 9-1-28-1.

JHARKHAND: Anand Singh c Ahmed b Warrier 27 (40b, 5x4), Ishank Jaggi b Nizar 8 (18b, 2x4), Kumar Deobrat (run out) 20 (47b, 2x4), Saurabh Tiwary (not out) 87 (94b, 7x4, 1x6), MS Dhoni c & b Ahmed 18 (31b, 1x4), Kaushal Singh lbw Padmanabhan 48 (43b, 4x4, 1x6), Ankit Dabas (not out) 18 (15b, 3x4). Extras (LB-3, W-5, NB-6) 14. Total (for 5 wkts, 47 overs) 240.

Fall of wickets: 1-33 (Jaggi), 2-45 (Anand), 3-80 (Deobrat), 4-129 (Dhoni), 5-204 (Kaushal).

Bowling: Sandeep Warrier 7-0-53-1 (w-1), Manu Krishnan 6-2-28-0 (nb-2, w-2), Niyaz Nizar 6-0-29-1 (nb-4), Prasanth P10-1-29-1 (w-2), Fabid Ahmed 9-0-50-1, Rohan Prem 7-0-37-0, V Jagadeesh 2-0-11-0.