Pradhumn, Arjit star in Udaipur victory

Jodhpur: In another low-scoring encounter where bowlers called the shots, Udaipur leg-spinner Pradhumn Parikh rattled Kota’s batting line-up picking up four crucial wickets to help his team secure a six wickets victory at Barkatullah Khan Stadium on Monday. His match-winning figures of 4-0-29-4 had set the stage for Udaipur’s win. Chasing 134, Khaleel Ahmed led Udaipur recovered quickly after an early wobble as experienced Arjit Gupta chipped in with unbeaten 65 off 45 balls, which included 6 sixes and 4 fours, to wrap up the game in 17.5 overs. The right-hand batter stitched a crucial partnership of 58 and 62* with Manender Singh (35 off 31 balls) and Rahul Tomar (25 not out off 21 balls) respectively.Defending a meagre target, Kota captain Deepak Hooda applied five bowlers in the Powerplay. Left-arm spinner Himanshu Nehra, who was introduced in the second over, gave hope to his side with twin strikes which reduced Udaipur to 12/2 in 1.5 overs. But the joy did not last long. Defeated by flight, Yash Kothari (4 off 3 balls) and Aditya Garhwal (0 off 1 balls) were Nehra’s first two victims, while his third wicket was Chandrapal Singh Chundawat (2 off 7 balls) in the 11th over. For Kota, only opener Rajat Chapparwal could add value to the total with the score of 40 off 32 balls.