Published: Mar 02, 2019, 07:28 PM (IST)
Edited: Mar 02, 2019, 07:27 PM (IST)
Railways’ unbeaten run in the group stage of Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2019 came to an end of Saturday after Punjab defeated them by three wickets in Indore.
Railways opted to bat at the Holkar Stadium but Manpreet Gony struck I the first over with the scalp of Mrunal Devdhar for 1.
Prashant Gupta struck a half-century as he led the recovery alongside Pratham Singh with the duo adding 63 runs for the second wicket. Gony then effected the run out of Pratham who departed after scoring 28 off 24 in the 10th over. Another run out, this time of Prashant Awasthi (7), in quick time left Railways in some trouble.
However, decent partnerships saw them posting 149/5 in 20 overs. Prashant top-scored with 54 off 43 while hitting four fours and two sixes. Sandeep Sharma, Gony and Krishan picked up a wicket each for Punjab.
Punjab were hit by twin blows with Krishnakant Upadhyay (2/23) getting rid of both openers – Manan Vohra (3) and Shubman Gill (11) cheaply.
Veteran Yuvraj Singh and Mandeep Singh got together to repair the early damage. The growing stand was broken when Harsh Tyagi (2/20) got rid of Yuvraj who had looked good during his 15-ball 26 that was laced with six fours.
Captain Anureet Singh took three wickets to put Railways on top and with Punjab 105/7 in 16.3 overs, it was anybody’s game.
Mandeep ensured Punjab finished their campaign on a high, hitting an unbeaten 71 off 48 with five fours and three sixes. They overhauled the target with a delivery remaining, finishing on 153/7.
Brief Scores: Punjab 153/7 (Mandeep Singh 71, Anureet Singh 3/52) beat Railways 149/5 (Prashant Gupta 54; Sandeep Sharma 1/29) by three wickets
