Men’s U25 State A Trophy
Excelsior Sports Correspondent
JAMMU, Nov 26: Arya Suvansh Thakur slammed a cracking century, while Dikshant Kundal, Kanhaiya Wadhawan and Fazil Rashid scored half-centuries to guide Jammu and Kashmir to a big win by a huge margin of 144 runs over Bihar in the ongoing Men’s U-25 State A Trophy at Gymkhana Ground, Hyderabad today.
Earlier, put into bat, J&K rode on a thunderous century by Arya Suvansh Thakur and valuable contributions by Dikshant Kundal, Kanhaiya Wadhawan and Fazil Rashid to score a huge total of 370 runs in the stipulated 50 overs, losing 8 wickets in the process. Arya top scored with power-packed 104 runs off 59 balls, which included a series of boundaries and sixes. He sent the rival bowlers on a leather-hunt rather butchered them and hit the ball with fluidity, grace, sublimity and brilliance. Another opening batsman, Dikshant Kundal scored 65 runs off 69 balls, while batting mainstay Kanhaiya Wadhawan made 63 off 61 balls and wicket-keeper/batsman Fazil Rashid scored brisk 55 off just 24 balls.
For Bihar, Suraj Rathore took 3 wickets, while Shabir Khan, A Raj and Himanshu Singh claimed one wicket each.
In reply, Bihar managed to score 226 runs in 50 overs, losing 6 wickets in the process, thus lost the match by a big margin of 144 runs. Gupil Rai top scored with 76 runs off 104 balls, while Suraj Rathore and Akash Raj contributed 33 and 31 runs respectively.
For J&K, Saksham Sharma captured 3 wickets, while Lone Nasir Muzaffar bagged 2 and Sahil Lotta claimed one wicket.
It was J&K’s last match in Elite Group D. Today’s win earned 4 points to J&K, which took its points tally to 12 points. Bengal tops the Elite Group D points table with 16 points, while Kerala by virtue of its win over strong Bengal today, secured a total of 14 points to be at second spot in the Group, thus qualifying for the knockout phase alongwith Bengal. Despite a huge win today, J&K failed to qualify for the knock-out stage.
The Jammu and Kashmir team is being accompanied by Sarabjeet Singh, Shafqat Malik, Hilal Ahmed, Veemarsh Kaw, Huwaid Hamid, Haseeb Rehman, Guru Partap Singh and Sahil Magotra as officials.
Meanwhile, Member-Administration JKCA, Brig Anil Gupta while reacting to Arya’s brilliance after his murderous ton tweeted “Young sensation Arya Thakur scores maiden OD century in U-25 Men’s State A tournament against Bihar. His 57 ball century has given a rousing start to the J&K innings. Carry on Arya, play till the end. Well done”.
Ace cricketer and Member Cricket Operations and Development JKCA after brilliant display against Bihar tweeted “So very proud of our#JKCA Under-25 A team who narrowly missed qualifying for the knockouts. What a team effort, the way you guys went about the whole business was outstanding. Lots of learning from the tournament. We March forward with our heads high”.
While praising Arya, Manhas also tweeted “17 years Arya Thakur scores a blistering 100 off 57 balls against Bihar in U-25 tournament#JKCA is proud of you. Watch out for this young man, he is special!”.
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