Raj ride on Bishnoi heroics

MUMBAI: Skipper Rajesh Bishnoi slammed a blistering 75 (36b, 5x4, 6x6) to help Rajasthan rally brilliantly, while chasing 173, and beat Kerala by three wickets, with just a ball left, in a Group ‘B’ game of the Syed Mushtaq Ali All India T20 Group B game, at the Sharad Pawar indoor academy ground in BKC on Thursday. It was Rajasthan’s second win on the trot.
In another Group B game, at the Wankhede Stadium, Delhi scored their first win in three games, when they thrashed Bengal, who have lost all their three games so far and are now out of the event, by seven wickets.
When Bishnoi walked in, Rajasthan were to tottering at 49 for four in the eight over. He earned an early reprieve when he was dropped on nine in the 10th over. Making Bengal pay for that lapse, he added 47 with Naresh Gehlot and then 70 (in merely 32 balls) with Divya Pratap Singh.
Bengal finally got him through a freakish run out in the last ball of the penultimate over, but it was too late. Gehlot and Divya Pratap Singh chipped in with 42 (37b, 5x4, 1x6) and an unbeaten 27 (18b, 3x4) respectively.
Earlier, Kerala, riding on Sanju Samson’s 68 (39b, 6x4, 4x6), and Rohan Prem’s unbeaten 48 (33b, 4x4), made a formidable 172 for three. Kerala were off to a brisk 40-run start through openers VA Jagadeesh and Rakesh. Samson smashed paceman Deepak Chahar for a couple of sixes in the 14th over, and was finally dismissed in the 18th over. Kerala had beaten Delhi in the first game.