With a 51-ball 90, Ishank Jaggi led East Zone to a six-wicket win against South Zone in the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali Inter-zonal T20. After Manoj Tiwary picked 3/31, the East Zone attack restricted the opposition to 178, the top-order bat helped the team to their second successive victory of the tournament.
Carrying his form from the longest format into the shortest version of the game, the batsman shaped the chase after coming to the crease at 13 for one. At the departure of Ishan Kishan taking the aerial route to S Arvind in the second over, Jaggi joined Shreevats Goswami in the middle. The pacer’s next over, the No 3 showed intent as he launched the bowler over long-off and followed it up with a boundary. Couple of overs later though, his another attempt at a big hit was caught at square-leg by GH Vihari. However, Vijay Shankar had bowled a no-ball and the batsman got a life when on 39. While batsman continued to take the attack to the opposition, the opener was sent back by Vijay in his next over, leaving EZ on 77 for two.
While Jaggi capitalised, he found an ally in Saurabh Tiwary. The pair added 81 runs for the third wicket until the flourishing stand was ended by Vinay Kumar with the wicket of the hard-hitting middle-order bat. The SZ captain would have had a second wicket in same over had the point fielder been able to hold to the catch to send back Jaggi. However, the batsman was sent back off the first ball of the next over by B Thampi. Manoj Tiwary took the team to the target with Biplab Samantaray.
“It was an important knock because our team won. It has been a good season for me as I feel I have hit the peak," Jaggi said while reflecting on the knock. I would say it has been our coach Rajiv Kumar (Jharkhand coach) and it is not something that I have told anyone. This guy gave us a lot of confidence, this guy changed everything from the mindset to the positivity and everything. He told us to go out and express ourselves and that is the only we can perform. He told us not to have fear of failure and that was a big factor. He changed me a lot, I was a good player but I was not that professional and coach Kumar helped me a lot along with the captain," he said while talking about the difference this season for himself and his state side.
Earlier, after electing to field, Pritam Das had given EZ their first breakthrough by dismantling Tanmay Agarwal’s stumps in the second over. Vinay Kumar then joined Mayank Agarwal in laying a platform for a respectable total. The all-rounder, who has been batting up the order on occasions during the season’s T20 matches, came in at No 3 and partnered the opener for 112 runs. The duo milked the opposition until Manoj accounted for Mayank. Looking to go over the top, the opener departed for 72. And in the following over Dinesh Karthik was run out leaving SZ on 129 for three. 10 runs later, Ricky Bhui too returned taking the aerial route to Manoj. In his next over, the EZ skipper accounted for his opposite number to leave SZ on 162 for five and kept the team in check. Couple of overs later Sayan Gosh claimed GH Vihari. Saurabh took his third catch in the long-off region to leave the team on 174 for six in the penultimate over. Pavan Deshpande and Vijay Shankar then took the SZ to 178 for six and set the opposition a competitive target.
