Jain University makes a strong claim for Rohinton Baria trophy

MANIPAL: Jain University, Bangalore riding on the brilliance of Samarth Ravi Kumar's unbeaten 123 ended day one of the two-day final in the All India Inter-Zone University cricket against Bombay University on 335 for 7 in their allotted 90 overs.
Samarth's fourth-wicket stand of 82 with skipper Kaunain Abbas steered Jain towards lifting the Rohinton Baria trophy and give them confidence as Bombay begins its chase at Manipal University ground on Sunday.
Samarth, who skippered Karnataka U-19 last year and has garnered 1,400 runs in all forms of cricket, gave a good display of his batting prowess.
He came in at the fall of Liyan Khan with Jain score of 110 for three and more than half the 90 overs were left to be bowled. He batted flawlessly to remain unbeaten from 151 deliveries with seven boundaries.
That innings put paid to hopes of Bombay bowlers who otherwise maintained a tidy line and length throughout.
Their bowling was good, both medium-pacers and spinners commanded a lot of respect from the batsmen. There was just one wide and two no balls in the 90 overs they sent down.
Off-spinner Vinit Dhulhar was the best of the lot, picking up three for 89. The Jain batting revolved around Samarth who was in no hurry at all. He paced his innings exceedingly well.
The fact that he got only one four in the first 50 and six in the rest of the innings indicated his patience.
Jain University did not repeat the mistake of missing out on singles and twos as they did in their loss to University of Madras in the final of the South Zone Tournament last week.
Today, Jain had a plan and the batsmen executed it well. There wasn't a single rash shot from any of the batsmen who were content garnering runs slowly, but surely.
There wasn't much the batsmen could do either, as Bombay bowlers, for a good 35 overs bowled to a packed off side field
North Zone runners, Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi beat Jiwaji University, Gwalior by 85 runs to finish third in the tournament. Jamia won the toss and opted to bat at the Manipal Institute of Technology ground.
In the 50 overs match, they made 272 for 5. Much of the credit for that total went to Surinder Dahiya who scored a 60-ball 91 with eight fours and six sixes.
Jiwaji's run chase stuttered and they were never in the hunt before folding up for 187 in 46.4 overs.
Brief scores: Final: Manipal University ground: Jain University: 335-7 in 90 overs (Samarth Ravi Kumar 123 n.o., Kaunain Abbas 50, Liyan Khan 46, Nihal Ullal 26; Vinit Dulhar 3 for 89) versus Bombay University.
MIT ground: Third-place play-offs: Jamia Millia Islamia University: 272-5 in 50 overs (Surinder Dahiya 91 n.o., Amit Verma 33, Shivendra Pal 39 Mayank Vasisht and Shivam Sharma 28 each) beat Jiwaji University: 187 all out in 46.4 overs (Bharath Anant 46, Sohrab Dhaliwal 42, Sanath Gurjar 23; Abhay Negi 2-27, Ashish Chopra 2-13, Mayank Vasisht 2-48).