Dhoni fails to finish as Jharkhand go down to Karnataka

Kolkata Feb 25 (IANS) Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhonis 50-ball 43 and his 81-run partnership with Saurabh Tiwary proved a trifle short as a fighting Jharkhand went down by five runs to Karnataka in a Group D tie of the Vijay Hazare Trophy cricket championship here on Saturday.

Jharkhand s innings folded up for 261 in 49.5 overs in reply to Karnataka s 266 all out in 49.4 overs at the Eden Gardens.

Powered by a 95-ball 77 from Manish Pandey and a 93-ball 71 from Ravikumar Samarth Karnataka set Jharkhand a target of 267.

Pandey and Samarth were involved in a 140-ball 116-run stand for the third wicket that came to an end when the latter was caught and bowled by medium-pacer Anand Singh.

Pandey and Pavan Deshpande (36) then added another 57 runs for the fourth wicket but just when Karnatak a looked set for a total close to 300 Karnataka began losing wickets in a heap.

From 224/3 in the 43rd over the Karnataka essay came to an end adding only 42 more runs.

For Jharkhand pacer Rahul Shukla (4/45) was the most successful bowler.

In reply Jharkhand lost Anand Singh and Virat Singh early before Ishan Kishan and Ishank Jaggi tried to repair the damage by stitching together a 58-run stand.

Dhoni joined Tiwary in the middle in the 20th over at 79/4 and hit two towering sixes besides picking up five boundaries during his knock that ended in the 37th over when medium pacer T. Pradeep shattered his stumps.

Tiwary (68) fell a little later and despite a spirited fight the later order failed to overhaul the opponent total.

Karnataka off-spinner K. Gowtham registered figures of 4/58.

Brief scores: Karnataka 266 in 49.4 overs (Manish Pandey 77 Ravikumar Samarth 71; Rahul Shukla 4/45) vs Jharkhand: 261 in 49.5 overs (Saurabh Tiwary 68 Mahendra Singh Dhoni 43 K Gowtham 4/58).

--IANS
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