For the first time Chhattisgarh Under-23 cricket team, entered the knock-out round of BCCI’s C K Nayudu Trophy.
Chhattisgarh defeated Jammu and Kashmir to secure its place in the knock-out stage. The four-day Under-23 Plate (B) Group match, played at Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Cricket Stadium, Naya Raipur from December 29 to January 1, concluded in just three days. With this win, Chhattisgarh occupied the first position with 25 points in the Plate B Group. On day one, Chhattisgarh’s medium pace bowlers Jagjot Gill and Shahnawaj Hussain delivered tight spells and restricted Jammu and Kashmir to a moderate total of 185 by claiming 5 and 4 wickets respectively.
The Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) team survived only 63 overs in their first inning. Except Shubham Singh, no other batsmen of the team had any reply to the medium pacers of Chhattisgarh. Another medium pacer of Chhattisgarh Pratik Raj Sinha claimed one wicket. Chasing the first inning total of 185, Chhattisgarh reached 65 at the loss of one in 27 overs at the end of day one. Anuj Tiwari scored 19 runs. Karandeep Saggu and Pawandeep Singh were unbeaten at 40 and 4 runs on crease.
Syyed Muztaba was the only wicket taker for Jammu and Kashmir. Chhattisgarh’s Ian Coaster’s 124 runs of 196-ball and Vikrant Rajput’s 60 runs of 96-ball helped Chhattisgarh to pile up 449 for 7 in the first inning. Chhattisgarh took a lead of 264 runs.From Jammu and Kashmir, Ankush Bandral, Rohit Pandya and Vishwajeet Singh claimed two wickets each. In its second inning, Jammu and Kashmir could score 183 runs in 62.2 overs. In this way, Chhattisgarh won the match by an inning and 81 runs, informed Chhattisgarh State Cricket Sangh (CSCS) Secretary Rajesh Dave.