Ruturaj slams third consecutive half-century as Maharashtra beat Odisha

Ruturaj Gaikwad scored his third straight half-century (81 off 47 balls) and powered Maharashtra to a 27-run win over Odisha in an Elite Group A match of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 cricket match right here on Saturday.
In one other group match, defending champions Tamil Nadu chased down 130 in 16.1 overs in opposition to Pondicherry to register their third consecutive win.
In the Maharashtra-Odisha match, skipper Gaikwad received the toss and opted to bat and led the way in which for the group.
After scoring fifties in opposition to TN and Punjab, the fashionable right-hander toyed with the Odisha assault and shared a 131-run partnership for the second wicket with India discard Kedar Jadhav, who made 55 from 35 balls.
The quickfire partnership which got here in lower than 12 overs put Maharashtra on monitor for an enormous rating. Gaikwad performed his trademark elegant drives and didn’t hesitate to go for the massive pictures.
His dismissal within the fifteenth over got here as some reduction for the Odisha bowlers as the remainder of the batters couldn’t proceed in identical vein.

In reply, Odisha misplaced skipper Rajesh Dhupar with the rating at 18 and save for a 56-run second wicket partnership between Anshy Rath (34) and Subhranshu Senapathi (27), the batters couldn’t take the combat to the Maharashtra bowlers.
Left-arm medium-pacer Divyang Himganekar was the perfect bowler for Maharashtra, returning figures of 4 for 35.
Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu skipper N Jagadeesan despatched Pondicherry into bat and the bowlers, left-arm spinner R Sai Kishore specifically, by no means allowed them to get going.
Ragu (32) Fabid Ahmed (27) and captain D Rohit (25) made contributions however the group might solely muster 129 for 8 in 20 overs.
Left-handed opener C Hari Nishaanth powered his option to an unbeaten 75 off 49 balls as Tamil Nadu overhauled the goal within the seventeenth over.
Brief scores:
Pondicherry 129 for 8 in 20 overs (Ragu 32, Fabid Ahmed 27, R Sai Kishore 4/28) misplaced to Tamil Nadu 130 for two in 16.1 overs (C Hari Nishaanth 75 not out, B Aparajith 28, Sagar P Udheshi 2/22) by eight wickets. TN: 4 factors, Pondicherry: 0.
Maharashtra 183 for 8 in 20 overs (Ruturaj Gaikwad 81, Kedar Jadhav 55, Debrata Pradhan 3/37, Bikash Rout 2/29) beat Odisha 156 all out in 18.5 overs (Anshy Rath 34, Abhishek Raut 29, Divyang Himganekar 4/35, Ashay Palkar 3/13) by 27 runs. Maharashtra: 4 factors, Odisha: 0.
Punjab 197 for 4 in 20 overs (Prabhsimran Singh 119 not out (61 balls, 11X4, 6X6), Shubman Gill 40, Abhishek Sharma 25) beat Goa 116 for 8 in 20 overs (Suyah S Prabhudesai 30, Siddharth Kaul 3/21, Harpreet Brar 2/12, Mayank Markande 2/29) by 81 runs. Punjab: 4 factors, Goa: 0.