From rxpgnews.com
Orissa defeat Jharkhand as Dhoni disappoints
By IANS,
Apr 3, 2007 - 6:16:05 PM
Kolkata, April 3 - Mahendra Singh Dhoni put up another dismal show scoring just one run, as Jharkhand lost the opening tie of the East Zone Twenty20 cricket to Orissa by 11 runs Tuesday.
Dhoni came in at the fall of Saurav Tewari and scratched about for five minutes trying to hit every ball for a six. He held his bat akimbo and went for flat-batted swipes. The result five balls later - a thick outside edge produced a dolly in the first slip for Niranjan Behera.
Debashis Mohanty produced a delivery that rose off the good length and Dhoni was gone for one. The hype was gone. The momentum was lost. Jharkhand looked defeated at three for 13 in 4.5 overs.
Orissa kept chipping away at the wickets as the Jharkhand innings got over for 110 runs, 11 runs short of the target of 121.
Earlier, Orissa batted first and put up a modest 121 runs in their allotted time. P Jaychandra led the Orissa assault with a fine 46 off 37 balls with four boundaries and two sixes. Praveen Kumar among Jharkhand bowlers shone taking three wickets for 36 runs from four overs.
None of the other Orissa batters could excel with only B. Mohapatra -, B. Pati - and P. Mullick - going into double figures.
For Jharkhand, inept technique brought their ruin. Subrata Ghosh was the highest scorer with 24 runs. A late surge by Praveen Kumar - and Sunny Gupta 22 saw Jharkhand almost reach the target, but they fell 10 runs short.
Brief Scores:
Orissa
P Jayachandra 46
B Pati 14
P Kumar 3/36
Jharkhand
Subrata Ghosh 24
S Gupta 22
P Kumar not out 18
P Das 2/14
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