Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Gujarat defeated Madhya Pradesh in the fourth league encounter of Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2021 at Air Force ground in Palam on Saturday, informed the Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association.
Madhya Pradesh was leading till 50-run loss against Gujarat. Winning the toss, Madhya Pradesh chose to bat first. The team played it safe as chasing the target is the tactic that has been working for the team during tournament in the given pitch.
This time however the team could not restrict Gujarat within limits nor could the bowlers create magic. Gujarat went on to set a target of 163 losing only three wickets.
Avesh Khan, who has so far been aggressive and economical, failed to impress and gave away most of the runs (economy: 10.3), remaining out of the form. Khan failed to get a wicket too.
While chasing the mountain-high target, opener Venkatesh Iyer scored boundary-studded 31 (4X4, 1X6) off 24 balls, though had to return to pavilion soon after Kuldeep Gehi was bowled out. He scored 9 runs off 5 balls.
Rest of the batting order managed to make quick advances but not enough to reach the target. hubham Sharma (25), Rajat Patidar (11) and captain Parth Sahani (11) built some hope for MP fans but couldn’t survive the aggressive bowling and calculated field placement from Gujarat.
While Nagwaswalla took three wickets for Gujarat, Gaja, Kalaria and Piyush Chawala got two each. Patel took one wicket too.
The bowlers from Gujarat managed to remain economical and defeated MP at 112 with nine balls remaining. After three matches, MP is second on the table with 8 points at par with Gujarat.
