SMAT | Kushagra, Virat dazzle in Jharkhand’s emphatic victory over Tamil Nadu

Kumar Kushagra (84 n.o., 48b, 5×4, 5×6) and Virat Singh (72, 39b, 10×4, 2×6) went ballistic, powering Jharkhand to 207 for three and a 28-run takedown of Tamil Nadu in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy Elite Group-D sixth-round clash at the Narendra Modi Stadium B-Ground here on Saturday.

From 29 for two in the fifth over, Jharkhand’s innings transformed once Virat and Kushagra joined forces, hammering 120 off 64 for the third-wicket stand.

Kushagra welcomed off-spinner Mohamed Ali into the attack with a slog-sweep to deep midwicket before smoking a six to cow corner in the same over. He struck an imperious straight drive for a four off pacer Rajkumar to bring up his second T20 fifty, and sent pacer Sonu Yadav soaring over long-on and out of the ground. He played a deft ramp over short fine leg off a full toss for a four and wrist-powered a midwicket six off left-arm pacer Gurjapneet Singh.

Virat scored three back-to-back fours off Sonu — straight drive, pull to deep square, and ramp to fine leg. And went 6, 4, 4 against left-arm spinner Sai Kishore — pull to cow corner, inside-out to extra cover, and sweep off full toss over short fine leg.

Tamil Nadu’s chase caught fire early — Sai Sudharsan (64, 42b, 9×4) and Tushar Raheja (27, 17b, 3×4, 1×6) rattled off 64 off just 35 balls for the opening stand.

Sai Sudharsan, made to open for the first time this tournament, slipped straight into his groove, carving up the field in the PowerPlay with six fours, four of them cover drives.

Just when he looked set to boss the chase, the innings ended in heartbreak. Jagadeesan’s hit to deep midwicket tempted a risky second, and despite Sai Sudharsan throwing himself into a dive, the throw found him inches short at the non-striker’s end.

Thrilling finish

With 25 needed off the last over, Mukul Choudhary (62 n.o., 26b, 1×4, 7×6) smashed four sixes off Ayush Badoni’s off-spin to collect 26 and take Rajasthan home in a 176-run chase against Delhi.

He cleared midwicket once and sent three blows down the ground, sealing a three-wicket win with a straight six off the final ball. The last over read: 6, 0, 6, 6, 2, 6.

The scores: Jharkhand 207/3 in 20 overs (Kumar Kushagra 84 n.o., Virat Singh 72) bt Tamil Nadu 179/7 in 20 overs (Sai Sudharsan 64).<EP>Saurashtra 178/8 in 20 overs (Vishvarajsinh Jadeja 40, Siddhant Rana 42, Vijaykumar Vyshak 3/28) bt Karnataka 177/9 in 20 overs (Devdutt Padikkal 66, R. Smaran 30).

Delhi 175/5 in 20 overs (Priyansh Arya 32, Yash Dhull 38, Ayush Badoni 30, Tejasvi Dahiya 33) lost to Rajasthan 177/7 in 20 overs (Karan Lamba 31, Mukul Choudhary 62 n.o., Navdeep Saini 3/15).