MS Dhoni leads Jharkhand to their first win in Vijay Hazare Trophy with a century

Jharkhand after an impressive Ranji Trophy 2016-17 season where they made it to the semi-finals for the very first time were bolstered by the addition of MS Dhoni to the team not just as the wicketkeeper-batsman but also the skipper for the Vijay Hazare Trophy. Jharkhand lost a close game to Karnataka yesterday but today (February 26) he walked out to bat when the team was in deep trouble and turned things around from thereon.

At 43/5 against Chattisgarh at the Eden Gardens, the Jharkhand team was reeling in the game and that’s when Dhoni walked out. He scored a magnificent century and got to the triple figure mark with a six. He took 94 balls to get there and did that striking 8 fours and 4 sixes.

Chattisgarh opening bowlers Abhuday Singh and Pankaj Rao struck twice each and Dhoni was out in the middle by the 15th over of the innings. Abhuday sent back Kaushal in the 20th over with the team score 57 and the skipper now had Shahbaz Nadeem as his batting partner. The duo added 151 runs together and batted for almost 27 overs. By the time Nadeem was dismissed by Rao, he had scored a half century, his first in List A cricket.

Dhoni in the meantime got to his hundred, the 17th in List A cricket and started playing with more aggression after that. He hit two boundaries and as many sixes in the last part of the innings before being dismissed on the last ball of the conclusive over of the innings. His knock of 129 that came off 107 balls witnessed him strike the ball at 120.56 and Jharkhand had 243/9 on the board.

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The 35-year-old had shown glimpses of his best in the first match against Karnataka as well but his 43 couldn’t make an impact since he wasn’t supported and eventually the opponent edged the game by a 5 runs margin.

He took up the role with his state team for the very first time not just to ensure he maintains his touch now that he is just playing limited-overs cricket but also to motivate the young bunch of players in the Jharkhand who under his mentorship had shown a great fight and character in the Ranji Trophy earlier this year.

The score proved enough and Jharkhand also managed to register their first win in the tournament. Chattisgarh were bowled out for just 165 and with that, Jharkhand won the game by 78 runs.

Brief Scores:

Jharkhand: 243/9 in 50 overs (MS Dhoni 129, Shahbaz Nadeem 53; Abdhuday Singh 4/33)

Chattisgarh: 165/10 in 38.4 overs (Abhuday Singh 24; Varun Aaron 3/26, Shahbaz Nadeem 3/36)