Faridabad, Dec 6 (IANS) Brilliant hundreds from Sunil Ramesh and Deepak Malik helped India open their campaign at the 3rd T20 World Cup for the Blind, with a win over Nepal by 274 runs at the Sledge Hammer Cricket Academy ground, here on Tuesday.
Indian captain Ajay Kumar Reddy won the toss and elected to bat. The opening pair of Sunil Ramesh and Ajay Kumar Reddy started the innings on the front foot and played aggressively, putting up a partnership of 102 runs. After Ajay’s dismissal, Lalit Meena joined Sunil and stitched together a 72-run partnership, before Sunil was retired hurt. The opener smashed 106 runs of 38 balls with the help of 25 boundaries.
Deepak Malik then continued the momentum of the innings along with vice-captain D Venkateswara Rao. The pair remained unbeaten till the end with Deepak scoring a swashbuckling 113 of 34 balls (22×4, 3×6) and Venkateswara getting 67 of 22 (11×4, 2×6) as India amassed 382/2 in their allotted 20 overs.
Chasing a huge target, Nepal was under pressure from the very first ball. They lost wickets at regular intervals. The Indians were brilliant in the field effecting 7 run outs in the innings which did not allow Nepal to build any momentum. Their innings ended at 108/9 in 20 overs giving India a comprehensive win.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh also started their tournament with victories over Australia and South Africa respectively.
Bangladesh beat South Africa by 99 runs in the round-robin match played at the Saket Sports Complex in Delhi. Put into bat by South Africa, Bangladesh riding on half centuries by Salman and Abid scored 231/5 in 20 overs. South Africa ended their chase at 132/7 in their 20 overs.
At DDA Siri Fort Sports Complex in the national capital, Sri Lanka beat Australia by seven wickets to start their tournament with a win.
Australia, who were put into bat scored 158 for the loss of 9 wickets. Cameron Matt top scored for the Aussies with 48. Sri Lanka reached the target in just 13.4 overs, aided by good knocks from Suranga Sampath and Ruwan Wasantha, who scored 63 and 43 runs respectively.
Brief Scores:
India: 382/2 in 20 overs (Sunil Ramesh 106, Deepak Malik 113 not out, D Venkateswara Rao 67 not out; Prem Chettri 1/68) beat Nepal 108/9 in 20 overs (Khemananda Ghatre 38, Sunil Ramesh 1/7 ) by 274 runs
Bangladesh: 231/5 in 20 overs (Salman 62, Abid 52, Md Ashiqur Rahman 45; Sphelele Khalala 2/12) beat South Africa 132/7 (David Landry 24; Mizan 1/8) by 99 runs
Australia: 158/9 in 20 overs (Cameron Matt 48; Suranga Sampath 2/20) lost to Sri Lanka – 162/3 in 13.4 overs (Suranga Sampath 63, Ruwan Wasantha 43; McCarthy Matt 2/35) by 4 runs
–IANS
avn/cs