Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy: Haryana beats Puducherry, makes it three in a row

An all-round performance from Haryana helps it defeat Puducherry by five wickets.

Ashish Hooda (centre) took three wickets for Haryana. File Photo: R. V. Moorthy

It was another day, another fine show from Haryana.

After registering two consecutive wins against Assam and Bengal, the side pulled off yet another convincing win, this time against Puducherry in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy on Thursday.

Opting to field at the Bandra-Kurla Complex here, Haryana rode on three-wicket hauls from Harshal Patel and Ashish Hooda to restrict Pondicherry to a meagre 114.

Coming into the game after a rather close defeat against Mumbai, Puducherry required a steady start, but that did not happen as it lost opener K. B. Arun Karthik on a duck. After a jittery start, Puducherry lost wickets at regular intervals and was reeling at 53 for 5 at one stage, and it looked difficult for the side to cross the 100-run mark. But in the fag end, Fabid Ahmed played a steady innings of 20 to ensure that the side at least posted a modest total.

Smooth chase

Chasing 115, Haryana got off to a steady start with Chaitanya Bishnoi (33, 24b, 4x4, 2x6) and Patel (16, 13b, 3x4) stitching a 50-run opening stand. Even though Fabid dismissed both the openers soon after, there was no slip-up as Guntashveer Singh steadily played a knock of 37 (30b, 4x4, 2x6) to guide the side home.

Having bagged its third victory on the trot, Haryana inched closer to the knockouts. On the other hand, Puducherry’s hopes of making it were further dented by this defeat.