Unbeaten half-centuries from Virat Singh and Ishank Jaggi put Jharkhand in a commanding position on Day Two of its quarterfinal clash against Haryana at the Moti Bagh stadium here on Saturday.
The duo put on an unbeaten 146-run stand for the fourth wicket after their team was reduced to 82 for three. Virat was batting on 81 (240b, 10x4, 1x6) while Ishank made 77 (149b, 11x4) in a finely crafted partnership that started slowly before the duo plundered Haryana’s spinners. Jharkhand was positioned at 228 for 3 at stumps.
Resuming the day on 251 for seven, Haryana threw away the last three wickets in six overs with batsmen showing a lack of application and going for expansive shots, adding only seven runs to the overnight total. Shahbaz Nadeem picked up the first two wickets of the day and finished with a seven-wicket haul while pacer Rahul Shukla claimed the other wicket.
Jharkhand went to lunch at 70 for two, after Haryana leg-spinners Yuzvendra Chahal and Amit Mishra removed openers Anand Singh and Sumit Kumar.
Chahal removed Singh when the latter tried to play against the turn only to offer a simple return catch, while Mishra produced a classic leg-spinning delivery to dismiss Kumar caught behind.
Post lunch, Jharkhand lost skipper Saurabh Tiwary when Harshal Patel came around the wicket; the left-hander tried to play to the leg side and instead edged it to Rajat Paliwal, who took a fine catch at first slip, diving to his left.
Sensible play
The left-handed Virat drove well square of the wicket against leg-spinners Mishra and Chahal, and played with soft hands whenever there was extra bounce, to ensure the close-in fielders did not come into play. In the final over before tea, Virat used his feet to off-spinner Paliwal to find the long-off boundary to get to his fifty.
At the other end, Ishank, who leads the run charts for Jharkhand this season, used his experience as he kept scoring at a fair clip while guiding the young Virat. He got to his half-century post-tea with two boundaries in one over – first a pull and then a wristy shot off his pads to find the mid-wicket fence off Chahal.
With just thirty runs behind Haryana and few more strong batsmen in the hut, Jharkhand will fancy a lead in excess of 150 to seal its maiden semifinal berth in the tournament.
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