Photo Courtesy: Manoj Tiwary/ Instagram

Despite a dominating show in the Deodhar trophy, Karnataka had to settle for the runners-up position as India B, led by a great performance by Manoj Tiwary, managed to outplay them in the final.

After a strong start to the innings, Tiwary took the side home with an unbeaten 51-ball 59 when the team needed an anchor in the middle. His knock consisted of 8 hits to the boundary and was a true masterclass in middle-order batting. Chasing 280 to win in their 50 overs, India B got there with 10 balls and 6 wickets to spare.

Earlier, Tiwary had scored a century in a losing cause for India B when the two teams had met. His quick fire 120 came off just 110 balls but wasn’t enough to take his team home. This time, Tiwary came in with his team in a much better position and looked determined to finish the job for them. He ensured he stayed till the end, staving off the chance of a late collapse in the batting order. He finished with 179 runs from the two innings he played for the side.

Mayank Agarwal, too, displayed some excellent hitting in the series as he got Karnataka off to flyers on most occasions. Sent up the order to accelerate the scoring rate and take full advantage of the fielding restrictions, Mayank continued the good form he has been in and gave the middle-order a cushion to work with in the middle overs of the innings.

Gayle and Mujeeb up their game

Two other lions from the Sher-e-Punjab who roared into the limelight recently were Chris Gayle and Afghan Mujeeb Zadran. The Universe Boss blasted 123 runs to take his side through against UAE in the World Cup qualifiers.

Meanwhile, Mujeeb bowled a superlative spell against Hong Kong in the qualifiers and finished with figures of 3/26 off his 10 overs with an economy rate of just 2.6. This young lion certainly seems to be making a big mark on the international stage.