Captain MS Dhoni at his best.
MS Dhoni-led Jharkhand came back from dead against Saurashtra at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata to win their third consecutive Vijay Hazare Trophy match on Wednesday.
The Eden Gardens pitch was back in focus with its uneven bounce after only three batsmen from each camp posted double digits with Ishan Kishan notching up a solitary half-century. On a precarious-looking surface, it was the seamers who ruled the roost, grabbing all the 20 wickets on offer.
Put into bat by Saurashtra, Jharkhand were dismantled for 125 but then the former Indian captain rotated his bowlers in the best possible way to skittle out the opposition for a mere 83 runs, thus winning the match by 42 runs.
Jharkhand were in a spot of bother right from the word 'go' losing two wickets in quick succession, with only Ishan Kishan making runs at the top order. They also lost last match’s heroes Ishank Jaggi and Saurabh Tiwary cheaply and slipped to 92 for six.
Dhoni (23) tried his best to forge a partnership with Kishan who scored 53 to post a 120-run total. Shaurya Sanandia (5/47) bagged a fifer including the prize wicket of Dhoni while Kushang Patel (4/39) did the rest of the damage.
Saurashtra were hoping for a stroll in the park but out came Dhoni and his boys all guns blazing. The skipper was seen employing an attacking field with two in the slip cordon and two -- forward short leg and silly point -- around the batsmen.
From being 30/3 after 10 overs at innings break, Saurashtra's collapse began after Varun Aaron (4/20) dismissed their skipper Jaydev Shah in the 15th over as they lost the remaining seven wickets for 34 runs in 12.3 overs. Rahul Shukla (4/32) and Jaskaran Singh (2/29) were highly impressive with the ball too.
(Inputs from PTI)
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