Salil Arora made a sparkling 125 for Punjab, but batters fired in unison as Jharkhand scored an impressive six-wicket win in their Super League Group A match of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy on Friday.
Arora’s knock (45b, 9x4, 11x6), in which the hundred came in 39 balls, helped Punjab post a solid 235 for six in 20 overs after getting reduced to 28 for two. Arora punished Sushant Mishra, clobbering the left-arm pacer for three sixes and a four in the final over of the innings to lift Punjab to an imposing total.
The IPL scouts would certainly have noted this outing of Arora, which came four days ahead of next week’s mini auction, and he has been included in the Rs 30 lakh group. Arora can double up as a wicketkeeper-batter, but on this day, Punjab skipper Prabhsimran Singh donned the big gloves.
But led by Kumar Kushagra (82 not out, 46b), skipper Ishan Kishan (47, 23b), Anukul Roy (37, 17b) and Pankaj Kumar (39, 18b), Jharkhand hunted down the target in 18.1 overs. Jharkhand made 237 for four. Reddy’s all-around show was not enough India all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy made 25 and took three wickets for Andhra, but Madhya Pradesh emerged a four-wicket victor in a low-scoring match.
Brief scores:
Punjab: 235/6 in 20 overs (Salil Arora 125 not out; Sushant Mishra 2/47) lost to Jharkhand: 237/4 in 18.1 overs (Kumar Kushagra 86 not out, Ishan Kishan 47) by 6 wickets.
Andhra: 112 all out in 19.1 overs (KS Bharat 39; Nitish Kumar Reddy 25; Shivam Shukla 4/23, Tripuresh Singh 3/31) lost to Madhya Pradesh: 113/6 in 17.3 overs (Rishabh Chouhan 47, Rahul Batham 35 not out; Nitish Kumar Reddy 3/17) by 4 wickets.
Rajasthan: 132/8 in 20 overs (Shubham Garhwal 33, Mahipal Lomror 37 not out; Anshul Kamboj 2/24, Ishant Bhardwaj 2/24) lost to Haryana: 133/3 in 16.2 overs (Ankit Kumar 60; Rahul Chahar 1/17).
