Srinagar : With a commanding performance with the bat and the ball, Konark Suryas Odisha qualify for the playoffs as they defeated Gujarat Greats by 7 wickets at the Bakshi Stadium in Srinagar on Friday.
Konark Suryas Odisha’s skipper Irfan Pathan won the toss and elected to bowl first. For Gujarat Greats, Morne van Wyk and skipper Shikhar Dhawan opened the innings. The lost their first wicket at the score of 5 on the boarda as Morne van Wyk (2) was dismissed by Vinay Kumar. Shikhar was then joined by Chris Gayle in the middle. He duo added 57 runs for the second wicket before Gayle lost his wicket for 34 from 30 balls. Shikhar added 23 from 24 balls. At a stage, they were down to 83/7 in 14.1 overs. Debabrata Das and Seekkuge Prasanna added 42 runs for the eighth wicket. While Prasanna made 31 from 18 balls Debabrata Das remained unbeaten on 25* from 20 balls. Gujarat Greats posted a score of 141/8 in 20 overs.
For Konark Suryas Odisha, Kevon Cooper was the pick of the bolwers who also bagged a hat trick in the innings. He ended with a figure of 4/25 in 4 overs. Diwesh Pathania (1/21), Vinay Kumar (1/20), Shahbaz Nadeem (1/22) and Pravin Tambe (1/06).
Chasing a target of 142 on the board, Richard Levi and Dilshan Munaweera opened the innings for Konark Suryas Odisha. They added 61 runs for the first wicket before Levi was dismissed for 25 from 14 balls. Dilshan Munaweera was then joined by Kevin O’Brien in the middle. The duo added 56 runs for the second wicket before Munaweera (47) lost his wicket. Kevin O’Brien remained unbeaten on 43* from 26 balls. Towards the end, Irfan Pathan played a quick fire knock of 19* from 6 balls to help his team win the match.
For Gujarat Greats, Seekkuge Prasanna (1/44), Jerome Taylor (1/35), Manan Sharma (1/28) took one wicket each in the innings.
