RAIPUR: When Chhattisgarh played against Team Rajasthan, the intent was missing. Most of their batsmen - except
Amandeep Khare - had no idea how to take the initiative. It reflected in their performance when they looked a clueless lot against the likes of
Aniket Choudhary,
Khaleel Ahmed and
Deepak Chahar
.
It was different against Madhya Pradesh on Sunday. Despite losing toss, they rendered a good batting performance and posted a challenging 150-7 in their Central Zone
Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy
match at Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh Stadium here. Though they lost the game by five wickets, they won many hearts with their improved show.
MP went after the bowling right from the onset as they also needed to improve their net run rate besides victory. Naman Ojha (58, 41b, 3x4, 4x6), who looked subdued in previous matches, came out with different intent and attacked medium pacers Pankaj Rao and Shakeeb Ahmed. He started with a glorious six off Rao over cover boundaries and repeated the same to Ahmed as well. The ball travelled even further this time.
Ojha added 82 with Rajat Patidar (30, 19b, 2x4, 1x6) in just 8.1 overs. At that stage, it looked MP would finish in 15 overs. However, they lost three wickets in space of six balls and eventually lost the momentum. Skipper
Harpreet Singh Bhatia looked out sorts and perished. It was then left to Sohraab Dhaliwal (27, 20b, 2x4, 1x6) and Parth Sahni (21, 16b, 1x4) to take MP through in 19.3 overs and five wickets intact.
MP bowlers started off well after Harpreet won another toss and chose to bowl.
Ishwar Pandey
bowled a good first over. Avesh Khan followed it up with even better and removed southpaw Rishabh Tiwari. Shashank Chandraker walked in and showed attitude. It was, however, Khare (47, 45b, 4x4) who started playing positive. He started with a glorious flick off Puneet Datey. The two ran well and putting pressure on MP fielders.
In the fifth over, Chandrakar (25, 26b, 1x4, 1x6) danced down to Pandey and hit him over sight screen. Chhattisgarh got the momentum and they did keep the scoreboard moving even though they were not finding enough boundaries. When Mihir Hirwani was brought into the attack, Chandrakar greeted him with a glorious inside out shot.
Hirwani, however, bounced back, bowled intelligently to remove Chandrakar. He pushed mid-wicket fielder to boundary and tossed the ball. Chandrakar went for another hit but this time hit straight to Parth Sahni at deep mid-wicket. Hirwani then chipped in with three quiet overs that pushed back Chhattisgarh progress. Left-arm spinner
Ankit Sharma ended Khare's knock with as Naman Ojha did a smart work to stump the batsman.
Ashutosh Singh (29, 22b, 4x4) played sensibly and started taking few calculated risks in company of Vishal Singh Kushwaha (32, 15, 3x4, 2x6). The two added 44 runs in just 21 balls. Kushwaha was the aggressor of the two as he hit two big sixes to Datey and Khan. His big hitting gave Chhattisgarh a fighting total on the board.
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