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Saurabh Tiwary blocks a delivery during his innings on Thursday. (Bhola Prasad)
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Skipper Saurabh Tiwary came to the party when it mattered the most for his team, essaying a sublime knock of 56 runs to help Jamshedpur pull off a six-wicket victory against Bokaro at the senior inter-district cricket tournament for HP Bodhanwala Trophy at Keenan Stadium on Thursday.
Replying to Bokaro’s total of 169/9 in 50 overs, captain Tiwary found an able ally in state U-19 captain Vishal Singh, who scored 64 runs, to steer his team to victory in the 43rd over for the loss of four wickets only.
The two stitched together a partnership of 95 runs for the third wicket, picking gaps in the field at will and rotating the strike to keep the scoreboard ticking.
Jamshedpur, however, survived some eager moments in the beginning losing openers Aakash Verma (11 runs) and Ashish Yadav (9 runs) cheaply, leaving a lot of rebuilding to be done by Tiwary and Singh.
The southpaw was ruthless against the Bokaro bowlers, smashing six boundaries and a monstrous six in his innings, as Singh played second fiddle, feeding the strike to his captain whenever possible.
However, Singh stepped up to take the senior batsman’s role after his captain’s dismissal to a flighted delivery from off-spinner Rahul Mishra. Deovrat Das, who came in to bat next, too couldn’t offer much resistance and ended up offering a simple return catch to offie Rahul Sharma.
However, Singh who held fort firmly at one end, stayed calm and stitched a 43-run partnership with wicket-keeper Kamal Gope to snuff out any unlikely chances of a Bokaro victory.
Earlier in the day, Bokaro’s batting line up had witnessed a dramatic collapse dure to a disciplined bowling attack from Jamshedpur.
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