Vivek Singh’s maiden unbeaten 100 helped Bengal record a 16-run win over Jharkhand in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 tournament at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Tuesday.
Choosing to bat, Bengal registered 161 for six and restricted Jharkhand to 145 for nine to earn its second victory. A confident Vivek took advantage of the Powerplay to display his trademark aggressive batting. The lanky southpaw, often guilty of throwing his wicket away, carried his bat through even as some reputed Bengal batsmen fell cheaply.
Vivek drove, cut and pulled powerfully to keep the Jharkhand bowlers under pressure. The improvisation was a new facet of Vivek’s audacious stroke play. He slammed 13 fours and three sixes to score his hundred off 64 balls. The 27-year-old laid a good foundation by adding 60 runs with fellow opener Shreevats Goswami (27, 28b, 3x4) and then 37 and 32 with Manoj Tiwary (12) and Shahbaz Ahmed (6) respectively.
Medium-pacer Monu Kumar, who captured three wickets, and Rahul Shukla, who got two, performed well in the death overs.
Cautious start
Jharkhand had a cautious start as it gathered 36 for one in the first six overs.
Captain Ishan Kishan (22, 25b, 2x4, 1x6) tried to accelerate and was caught at deep mid-wicket off off-spinner Arnab Nandi’s bowling.
As Bengal bowlers intensified pressure, Jharkhand lost a wicket apiece from 10th to 13th overs. Off-spinner Writtick Chatterjee claimed two of the wickets, including that of Virat Singh (47, 35b, 4x4, 2x6), who played some brilliant drives to the fence.
Utkarsh Singh (28, 14b, 3x4, 2x6) and Anukul Roy (18, 16b, 1x6) batted courageously but could not accomplish the task due to Bengal bowlers’ disciplined performance. Ishan Porel took three wickets.
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