New Delhi:
Kedar Jadhav's aggressive 86, Vijay Shankar and Krishnappa Gowtham's aggressive cameos of 45 and 33 respectively in the death overs as well as Shahbaz Nadeem's brilliant haul of 4/32 gave India B a convincing 51-run win over India C as they clinched the Deodhar Trophy title at the JSCA cricket stadium in Ranchi on Monday. Jadhav, who has been a forgotten man for the Indian cricket team ever since the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 and Nadeem, who impressed on debut combined to put up a magnificent performance that summed up India B's dominance in the tournament. Jadhav's knock was crucial after India B suffered a bad start after opting to bat.
Ruturaj Gaekwad fell in the first over to Ishan Porel while skipper Parthiv Patel and Baba Aparajith fell after getting off to a steady start. However, at the other end, Yashasvi Jaiswal held firm at the other end and played confidently as the match progressed. Jaiswal benefited from a dropped catch by Diwesh Pathania and he made the bowler pay by hitting him for a couple of boundaries. Jaiswal notched up his fifty with a big six off Mayank Markande but he fell in the quest of quick runs to Axar Patel.
However, Jadhav held firm and continued the good work which Jaiswal had done and he signalled his intentions with a six off Markande. The 79-run stand between Jadhav and Nitish Rana laid the foundation for India B's big score. Jadhav mixed aggression and caution and he continued to target Markande by getting to his fifty with two sixes off the legspinner. When Rana fell, Vijay Shankar ensured the momentum was sustained and Markande continued to bear the brunt of the punishment when Shankar slammed a six.
Shankar upped the ante with two fours off Jalaj Saxena and he slammed a six and a four off Pathania as India B went rampant in the death overs. Jadhav hit his fourth six off Markande as the bowler finished with figures of 10-0-79-0. Shankar fell for 45 but the 49th over bowled by Pathania was carnage as Gowtham slammed two fours and three sixes as the over went for 31 runs. Ishan Porel got the big wicket of Jadhav for 86 to pick up his fifth wicket but Gowtham's blitz ensured India B reached 283/7, with the last five overs yielding 72 runs.
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The onslaught in the final overs affected India C and they started badly, losing Shubman Gill, Virat Singh and Suryakumar Yadav cheaply. The collapse of four wickets for 21 runs ensured India C did not recover and despite the best efforts of Priyam Garg, India C were behind the rate. When Siraj got the wicket of Garg for 74, Nadeem ran through the lower order to end with four wickets. Axar Patel, Jalaj Saxena and Mayank Markande did not go for the win and they played out the overs to give India B a confident win.
