Kaul steers city boys to victory

Chandigarh, October 17

A timely ton by Uday Kaul helped Chandigarh defeat hosts Uttarakhand by two wickets in their Vijay Hazare Trophy match at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Dehradun today.

Opting to bat, Dehradun rode on Tanmay Srivastava’s unbeaten 102-run knock to score 253/8 in 50 overs. 

Srivasta, who came to the crease at the fall of opener Karanveer Kaushal (0) in the second over of the day, faced 140 balls during his stay in the middle, and together with Avneesh Sudha (78) added 141 runs for the third wicket after the hosts were struggling at 25/2. 

However, after Sudha was run out by Manan Vohra in the 36th over, Uttarakhand lost wickets at regular intervals and could not impart the desired impetus to their innings.  

Sarandeep Singh was the pick of the bowlers for the visitors, claiming 4/44.

Chasing a competitive total, Chandigarh were in a spot of bother as they lost Vohra (9) and Arjun Azad (12) early. However, Kaul held the Chandigarh innings together, even as wickets kept tumbling at the other end. 

The wicketkeeper batsman finally fell to DK Sharma on 102 runs, with Chandigarh just 46 runs away from victory. 

Arpit Pannu and Shresth Nirmohi then stitched an unbeaten 34-run partnership for the ninth wicket to ensure that the visitors achieve the target with an over to spare. 

Pannu remained not out on 23, while Nirmohi scored an unbeaten 17 off just nine balls. Earlier, Gaurav Puri had contributed 45 runs to the chase. 

With a victory in their last Plate group match, Chandigarh finished fourth with 22 points from eight matches.   

Pondicherry topped the group with 28 points and qualified for the knock-outs.  — TNS