The Rajasthan cricket team started off their Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2024 campaign with a comprehensive 108-run win over Bihar at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium C in Rajkot on Saturday.
Opener Abhijeet Tomar and captain Mahipal Lomror came up with quickfire half-centuries to power Rajasthan to a huge total of 224/4 in their 20 overs. Tomar smashed five sixes and five fours in his 33-ball 64 while Lomror hit four sixes and two boundaries to remain unbeaten on 51 off just 32 balls.
In return, the Bihar cricket team finished at 116/8 with Manav Suthar and Rahul Chahar registering impressive spells of 2/12 and 2/14, respectively. Deepak Chahar also picked up two wickets for Rajasthan while Raghuvendra Pratap Singh was Bihar’s top-scorer with 21 off 18 balls
Batting first Tomar and fellow opener Bharat Sharma got Rajasthan to a flying start going past the 50-run mark in just the fourth over. Though Sharma got dismissed, Tomar continued in the same vein with Rajasthan posting 81/2 at the end of the powerplay.
Tomar was run out in the 12th over after completing his half-century but the damage was already done with the team reaching 119 with nine overs to spare.
Incidentally, Tomar was the last Rajasthan wicket to fall with Mahipal Lomror and Zubair Ali Khan putting on an unbeaten partnership of 105 off only 54 balls for the fifth wicket to take Rajasthan past the 200-run mark.
Zubair Ali hit three sixes and five fours to finish with an unbeaten 49 off 26 balls while opener Sharma put in an entertaining cameo with a 10-ball 27. For Bihar, Mrityunjay Singh and Sakib Hussain picked up a wicket each.
In the chase, Deepak Chahar picked up a wicket each in his first two overs with Kamalesh Nagarkoti also striking in his first over to reduce Bihar to 35/3 in the fourth over.
From then on there was no looking back for Rajasthan as the spin duo of Rahul Chahar and Manav Suthar operated in tandem picking the next four wickets and closing out the game.
Rajasthan will meet Mizoram in their second Group A match of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2024 campaign at the same venue on Monday, November 25.
Bihar vs Rajasthan Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2024 brief scores: Rajasthan 224/4 (Abhijeet Tomar 64, Mahipal Lomror 51*; Mrityunjay Singh 1/36) beat Bihar 116/8 (Raghuvendra Pratap Singh 21; Manav Suthar 2/12, Rahul Chahar 2/14, Deepak Chahar 2/19) by 108 runs.
