Unbeaten half-century each haul by Indian skipper Ajay Kumar Reddy and local hero Sukharam Majhi guided the team into the semifinal of the T20 Cricket World Cup for the Blind, defeating New Zealand by nine wicket at the KIIT university cricket ground here on Tuesday.
India scripted their seven league round win out of eight matches while New Zealand yet to open their account after seven matches of the meet.
The highlight of the entire match was a full stadium and the presence of close to 1000 differently abled children from Special Schools from all across State witnessed the enthralling match.
The ninth day of the tournament began on a thrilling start with a stadium overflowing with full stands. New Zealand Blindcaps with winning the toss elected to bat first.
New Zealander’s were restricted to a score of 136 for 6 in 20 overs with BD Wilson scoring an undefeated half century and Odisha Star Jafar Iqbal and Ketal Patel picking up two and a wickets respectively.
In reply, Ajay Kumar Reddy displayed extraordinary batsman skill by scoring an unbeaten 28-ball 75 including 14 boundaries and Odisha boy Sukhram Majhi joined the party by contributing 25-ball 56 remain unbeaten with 11 boundaries.
The duo successfully chased the target in mere 9 overs. MlK McCaskill took the sole wicket of Jafar Iqbal. Sukhram was adjudged as the man of the match.
Brief Score: New Zealand Blindcaps 136/6 in 20.0 overs (BD Wilson 52 n.o. MlK McCaskill 13, Deacun Dunn 13 n.o., Iqbal Jafar 2/19) lost to India CAB 140/1 in 9.0 overs (Sukhram Majhi 56 n.o. Ajay Kumar Reddy 72 n.o., MlK McCaskill 1-47) by 9 wickets.