Jharkhand placed in Group B with all matches played in Kolkata. The Virat Singh lead squad finished 3rd in the Group. However, they qualified as best 3rd place team to join the 5 Group runners-up in the Pre-Quarter Finals, where they once again met Karnataka and met a similar fate. Overall, it was a decent campaign. Some of the batters were amongst the runs. And in Kumar Kushagra, they have found another wicket-keeper batter who can keep a calm head in a crisis both in chases as well as while rebuilding an innings. Won’t be surprised if some of the franchisees looking for a back-up wicket-keeper show a keen interest in him during the upcoming IPL Auction!
Here is a game by game summary of the tournament.
Game 1: Jharkhand 309/3 (50) beat Sikkim 116/10 (40.1/50) by 193 runs
Highlights: Rahul Shukla 5/19, Utkarsh Singh 52 & 1/4, Virat Singh 75, Saurabh Tiwary 63*, Kumar Deobrat 51*
Game 2: Assam 163/10 (39.4) lost to Jharkhand 166/2 (35) by 8 wickets
Highlights: Vivekanand Tiwari 4/42, Utkarsh Singh 83* & 1/12, Virat Singh 50
Game 3: Jharkhand 107/10 (40.4) lost to Karnataka 108/4 (26.3) by 6 wickets
Highlights: Kumar Kushagra 56
Game 4: Rajasthan 270/10 (49) lost Jharkhand 271/5 (49) by 5 wickets
Highlights: Rahul Shukla 5/53, Utkarsh Singh 91 & 1/31, Saurabh Tiwary 76
Game 5: Jharkhand 321/2 (50) beat Meghalaya 129/10 (40.3) by 192 runs
Highlights: Utkarsh Singh 128*, Virat Singh 112, Vikash Singh 3/17, Sushant Mishra 3/33
Game 6: Delhi 259/5 (50) lost to Jharkhand 260/5 (48.5) by 5 wickets
Highlights: Virat Singh 116*
Game 7: Vidarbha 297/3 (50) beat Jharkhand 288/6 (50) by 9 runs
Highlights: Saurabh Tiwary 138*, Kumar Kushagra 55
Pre-Quarter-Final: Jharkhand 187/10 (47.1) lost to Karnataka 188/5 (40.5) by 5 wickets
List A Debut: Arnav Sinha
Highlights: Kumar Kushagra 74, Anukul Roy 57
Tournament Stats
Highest Scorers
- Virat Singh: 390 @ 65.00, 2x100, 2x50
- Utkarsh Singh: 370 @ 61.67, 1x100, 3x50
- Saurabh Tiwary: 367 @ 91.75, 1x100, 2x50
Highest Wicket-takers
- Rahul Shukla: 16 @ 16.25, 2x5
- Shahbaz Nadeem: 8 @ 37.50
- Sushant Mishra: 7 @ 19.86
Top Score: Saurabh Tiwary: 138* vs Vidarbha
Best Bowling: Rahul Shukla: 5/19 vs Sikkim
Players Used: 17
List A Debuts: 1