Jubilee Post News & Views
Lucknow. A five-wicket haul by left-arm pacer Manish Singh helped favourites Hindustan Times crush Dainik Jagran by nine wickets in the last league match of the Group A in the SBI Cup Media Premier League, at the KD Singh ‘Babu’ Stadium here today.
Manish, who had 8/17 in the last meeting with Dainik Jagran in the Media Cricket Tournament in 2019, conceded 16 runs to take five wickets as Dainik Jagran collapsed for paltry 42 in 13 overs.
After losing opener Rajeev Bajpai on duck on the very third ball, Dainik Jagran batters continued to struggle against a disciplined attack and lost six wickets for just 12/ 6 in 4.4 overs. Along with Manish, offie Rohit Singh too dominated the Dainik Jagran batters, bagging 3/5 in four overs with one maiden. Dileep Pandey and Anshul Tripathi shared two wickets between them.
In reply, Hindustan Times despite losing the wicket of opener Lalit Bhardwaj in the very first over, romped home in 5.4 overs with skipper Abhinav Shukla (26*, 19b, 3×4, 1×6) hitting a towering six in the long on region off Gulshan Dwivedi.
Hindustan Times, which topped the Group A with back-to-back wins in as many as matches, will now take on LSJA XI in the first semi-final on January 29, whereas Dainik Jagran will meet the winners of the match between Times of India and DD-AIR in the second semi-final on January 30. The final is slated for January 31. In the last league match of the Group B, Times of India will take on DD-AIR XI on Friday, at the KD Singh ‘Babu’ Stadium at 9.30 a.m.
