The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : South beats North, tastes first win

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South beats North, tastes first win

Special Correspondent

— Photo: K.R. Deepak

ACROBATIC EFFORT: South’s Gnaneswara Rao takes a superb return catch to send back Vikramjeet Malik of North.

VISAKHAPATNAM: North lost to South but Rajat Bhatia’s three sixes in the last over provided thrilling fare to the few thousands at the ACA-VDCA stadium and also saved the team from receiving its third penalty point in the Deodhar Trophy league match here on Sunday.

Bhatia, who walked in at No. 6, remained unbeaten on 62 (73b, 3x4, 3x6) and his undefeated stand of 40 for the last wicket with Manpreet Gony in 50 balls took North to 205 for nine in reply to South’s 247 for nine. Had the host dismissed North for 197 or less, it would have got a bonus point while North would have received a penalty point.

Brilliant Bhatia

Bhatia sent medium-pacer Saurabh Bhandekar over the extra-cover fence to reach his 50 and smashed the fifth ball over midwicket for a six to deny South a bonus point. He finished with a flourish, hoisting the last ball over long-on.

Earlier, South, put in, was provided a good start of 70 by Robin Uthappa (57, 91b, 6x4) and S. Vidyut (37, 48b, 7x4). Both were cautious but scored at a good rate. A couple of good partnerships that followed — 46 between Uthappa and captain Badrinath, and 63 for the fourth between Dinesh Karthik (40, 45b, 5x4) and Arjun Yadav (31, 29b, 3x4, 2x6) saw South reach 247 for nine.

South has three points from three games, while North has two penalty points.

The scores:

South: R. Uthappa b Gony 57, S. Vidyut c Kaul b Sangwan 37, S. Badrinath c Kaul b Bhatia 17, D. Karthik lbw b Mishra 40, Arjun Yadav c Gony b Sangwan 31, Gnaneswara Rao (run out) 2, C. Raghu c Kaul b Gony 9, Vinay Kumar (not out) 31, S. Bhandekar c Kaul b Gony 0, P. Ojha c Kaul b Gony 2, Sarvesh Kumar (not out) 2; Extras (b-4, lb-3, w-9, nb-3): 19; Total (for nine wkts. in 50 overs): 247.

Fall of wickets: 1-70, 2-116, 3-128, 4-191, 5-193, 6-207, 7-221, 8-221, 9-225.

North bowling: Vikramjeet 10-1-41-0, Gony 10-1-52-4, Sangwan 10-0-48-2, Mishra 10-0-47-1, Bhatia 8-0-39-1, Yashpal 2-0-13-0.

North: U. Kaul c Vidyut b Gnaneswara Rao 31, K. Goel c Karthik b Vinay 2, G. Gambhir c Uthappa b Gnaneswara Rao 43, Yashpal c Ojha b Bhandekar 19, P. Dogra c Gnaneswara Rao b Ojha 13, Rajat Bhatia (not out) 62, A. Chopra st. Karthik b Ojha 4, A. Mishra c Uthappa b Ojha 0, P. Sangwan c Karthik b Sarvesh 12, V. Malik c & b Gnaneswara Rao 3, Gony (not out) 7; Extras (lb-2, w-7): 9; Total (for nine wkts. in 50 overs): 205.

Fall of wickets: 1-13, 2-78, 3-81, 4-112, 5-115, 6-132, 7-132, 8-158, 9-165.

South bowling: Vinay 10-1-37-1, Sarvesh 10-0-39-1, Bhandekar 8-0-52-1, Raghu 2-0-8-0, Gnaneswara Rao 10-0-47-3, Ojha 10-2-20-3.

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