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Player of the Match: KM Asif (3/16)
1:54 PM IST, Local Time | Kerala outclass Chhattisgarh in every department of the game to win by 8 wickets comprehensively! They chase down the low target of 121 runs in just 10.4 overs!
Kerala won the toss and elected to bowl first, and were led by KM Asif's 3/16 from 3 overs, along with excellent support from Ankit Sharma (2/27) and Vignesh Puthur (2/29). Kerala were able to bundle out Chhattisgarh for 120 runs in 19.5 overs.
Amandeep Khare and S Jitendra Desai's 51-run partnership was the only positive from their batting performance. The former fell short of his half-century by 9 runs, losing his wicket to Ankit Sharma, who had earlier dismissed Desai in a similar manner!
Come the chase, the target looked like a cake walk for Kerala, and their opening duo of Sanju Samson and Rohan Kunnummal obliterated the Chhattisgarh bowling attack to break the back of this chase within the first 4 overs! They smashed 72 runs in 4.1 overs for the opening wicket.
Sanju Samson played a blistering knock of 43 runs off 15 balls, and Rohan Kunnummal supported him well with 33 runs off 17 balls! Ravi Kiran dismissed Samson in the 5th over, but it was too late by then. Kunnummal fell an over later to Shubham Agarwal.
Post the powerplay, Vishnu Vinod and Salman Nizar did not have much to do, and they made short work of the target with Vinod staying unbeaten at 22 runs off 14 balls, and Salman Nizar scoring 16 runs off 18 balls to lead their team to a big victory.
The chase was short, and this will positively impact Kerala's NRR in the points table which could come in handy towards the end.
OVER 11
Kerala
121/2
Salman Nizar
16(18)
Vishnu Vinod
22(14)
Anand Rao
0-4(0.4)
10.5 A Rao to S Nizar
WD WIDE! Ah, Chhattisgarh gift the winning run to Kerala! Length delivery, down the leg side. The match started with a wide, and ended with a wide. Kerala win by 8 wickets.
10.4 A Rao to S Nizar
0 Length delivery, on the stumps, Nizar defends in front.
10.3 A Rao to V Vinod
1 SCORES ARE LEVEL! Good length delivery, on the stumps, glances it through square leg for the penultimate run.
10.2 A Rao to S Nizar
1 Back of a length delivery, on the stumps, drops it to silly point to sneak in a run.