Col. C K Nayudu Trophy 2019-20 : Pondicherry Vs Bihar (Moin Ul Haq Stadium)
Patna, 14-17 Feb’20:
The cricketing season 2019-20 of Pondicherry has become a memorable one in the annals of Cricket Association of Pondicherry as the U-23 Men’s team in Col. C.K.Nayudu Trophy has created the feat of sailing into the elite group. Indeed, it is a thunderous entry into elite group with 51 points off the nine matches in the plate group, by winning 7 matches and 2 matches being drawn.
In the last group level match played at Moin Ul Haq Stadium, Patna, the skipper of Bihar chose to field and should have thought that it was quite right to do so as his bowlers were striking at regular interval on the first day of the match. As the top order did not click and were struggling at 108 for 5, with the consistent scored Paras Ratnaparkhe also back in the pavilion for 35, all-rounders Satish Jangir and Sidak Singh played a very crucial role in taking Pondicherry to safety; though not a commanding position. In the company of skipper Sai guarding at one end, Satish Jangir launched a surprise attack against Bihar bowlers and scored a quick fire 53 off 47 balls with 7 fours and 2 sixes. The exit of Satish Jangir, brought in another hitter Sidak Singh to the middle and he continued from where the former left and went on leather hunt to score a valuable unbeaten 54 off 58 balls with eleven fours and took Pondicherry to 231 all out in the first innings. Bihar bowler Vikas Jha took 4 for 43. Till this moment, the Bihar skipper’s decision to field first was felt a tactical one, but, at the end of the same day’s play, the mood turned sombre as Bihar was staring at 92 for 5.
Sidak Singh’s ruthless strike
With a first innings total of Pondicherry showing only 231 on the board, Bihar started well till their opener Vishwajeet Gopala was out for 2 off 24 balls, with his partner Pranav Singh was scoring freely at the other end, when Sidak Singh dismissed him. From there, Satish Jangir joined the party and took two quick wickets. Pranav Singh, who scored 54 off 103 balls, could do nothing more than simply watching frequent fall of wicket at the other end as Sidak Singh ran through the rest of the line-up and closed Bihar’s first innings with 6 for 38 when they were all out for 112, conceding a lead of 119 runs. Extending good support to Sidak Singh from the other end, Pooviarasan and Satish Jangir took two wickets each.
Akash Kargave’s swashbuckling knock
As Pondicherry were off to a jolting start in the second innings when George was out with only six runs on the board, the no.3 player Akash Kargave joined the other opener Surendiran to build a worthy partnership. Sensing the need for a big score for the team and himself as well, Akash Kargave launched a ferocious attack and unleashed a wide range of strokes to score lightening century and carried on to score 145 off 120 deliveries with 20 boundaries and 5 sixes and to take the score to 249 for 2 with a partnership of 243 runs for the second wicket when he was out. After the exit of Akash Kargave, there was a similar attack by Paras Ratnaparkhe (25 off 17 balls) and Manikandan (24 off 28 balls) and after the exit of these two, Satish Jangir wielded his willow and launched a power packed attack on Bihar bowlers as he raced to an unbeaten 55 off 45 deliveries with 4 fours and 4 sixes to take the score to 361 for 5 declared, setting a huge target of 481 for Bihar to win the match in more than six sessions left. Bihar ended day two with the score of 66 no loss.
Sidak Singh – the achiever for the second consecutive year
After taking six wickets in the first innings, Sidak Singh sensed the chance of finishing the group matches with maximum wickets under his belt and vying for the honour for this year also. After removing Bihar opener Vishwajeet Gopala for 45, stumped by George, there was a good partnership of 123 runs for the second wicket between Pranav Singh (77 off 138 balls) and no.3 batsman S.Gani (97 off 203 balls), who missed his century by three runs, were coasting along smoothly before the former being dismissed by Sidak Singh and the latter by Pooviarasan. From then on, only no.7 batsman Sachin Kumar Singh (37) and no.10 batsman A.Anand (22) showed some resistance; but could do no repair to the damages caused by Sidak Singh’s yet another merciless attack. Sidak Singh returned with the second haul of 6 wickets with figures of 58-17-140-6 with an economy rate of 2.41 and take his tally to 12 wickets in the match, which also inspired Satish Jangir, who took 3 for 108 to earn a much needed win as Bihar was all out for 347 and to take Pondicherry to the knock out stage and elite group as well for the next year.
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