Punjab lose to Jharkhand by 2 runs

Chandigarh, February 22

Fifties by Mandeep Singh and Abhishek Sharma could not take Punjab over the line as Jharkhand pulled off a thrilling two-run win in their Elite Group B match of the Vijay Hazare Trophy in Indore.

Chasing a 218-run target, skipper Mandeep (68) shared a 68-run second-wicket partnership with Sharma (56) and a 77-run third-wicket stand with Gurkeerat Mann (37) to give Punjab a solid start. But Punjab’s chase faltered after Mann’s wicket as they went from 150/3 to 215 all out.

Earlier, Siddharth Kaul’s 3/44 helped Punjab restrict Jharkhand to 217/9.

Brief scores: Jharkhand 217/9 (Utkarsh 51, Nadeem 45*; Kaul 3/44); Punjab 215 all out in 45.5 overs (Mandeep 68, Sharma 56; Shukla 2/34, Nadeem 2/36)

Sreesanth leads Kerala to win with five-wicket haul

Bengaluru: On a comeback trail after the end of his spot-fixing ban, pacer S Sreesanth picked up his first five-wicket haul in List A cricket in almost 15 years to help Kerala pull off a three-wicket win over Uttar Pradesh. The 37-year-old returned figures of 5/65 in his first List A game in more than eight years. — PTI