Akash Kargave leads Puducherry to safety

The four day match between Puducherry and Mizoram in the Col C K Nayudu Trophy started at Jalan Outdoor Stadium Dibrugarh. Mizoram won the toss and chose to bowl first. Put into bat, Puducherry lost two wickets just with 11 runs on the board, including the consistent scorer Paras Ratnaparkhe back in the pavilion. The No.4 batsman Akash Kargave joined the opener Raghu and put on a healthy partnership of 84 runs. After Raghu was out for 53 off 68 balls with 10 fours, skipper Sai joined Akash and had a partnership of 76 runs for the fourth wicket. Akash Kargave took the responsibility on his shoulder and scored a valuable 75 off 102 balls with 8 fours and one six, while Sai scored a patient 49 off 75 balls with 5 fours. With only Aru scoring 33 off 43 balls with 4 fours and one six, the tail did not last long and Puducherry was all out for 232 off 58.1 overs. For Mizoram, A.Kumar took 4 for 41 off 15 overs and Dika Ralte took 3 for 46 and Dinpuia 3 for 61.

With a little over 30 overs to go on the first day, Mizoram started their first innings only to be in trouble immediately with the openers back in the pavilion with the score at 49 for 2. Syed Bazid Shah played the sheet anchor role for Mizoram and scored 74 off 152 balls with 13 boundaries. Syed was ably supported by The No.5 batsman Danur Sikri, who scored a patient 71 off 130 balls with 9 fours. Among the rest only Parvez scored 25 runs and Mizoram was all out for 218, conceding a slender lead of 14 runs. For Puducherry Sidak Singh took 3 for 60 and Akash Kargave took 3 for 55, while Vengat and Arvind took 2 wickets each.

In the second innings Puducherry ended day 2 at 108 for 1 with the other opener George (38) and Paras Ratnaparkhe (58) at the crease.

Paras Ratnaparkhe’s Classical Double Ton After Ton
Resuming at 108 for 1 on the third day, Paras Ratnaparkhe, who scored a century against Nagaland, continued his elegant attack to score the first double ton, 203 off 213 balls, with 31 fours and 2 sixes, with a strike rate of 95.31 in the Col.C.K.Nayudu Trophy 2018-2019 and with this double ton, he is at the 2nd spot of the table of top scorers with a total of 694 runs (with 4 centuries including the double ton against Mizoram).

Akash Kargave 37 off 56 balls with 6 fours and Sidak Singh’s whirlwind knock of 78 off 63 balls with 6 fours and 4 sixes, extended a solid support to Paras Ratnaparkhe on his way to score the double ton. Puducherry declared the second innings at 426 for 7 off 86 overs. For Mizoram, A.Kumar took 3 for 105 and Dika Ralte 2 for 100.

With the Himalayan task of 441 for a win, Mizoram’s both the openers were out for naught and ended day three with the score 81 for 5 with a day’s play left.