Kaushik slams season's maiden century in Daredevils School Cup

Madhav Kaushik Monday became the first batsman to score a century in the USA Pears-Daredevils School Cup T20 cricket tournament this season.

His 102 (62 balls, five fours, five sixes) helped Modern School, Barakhamba Road, rally from 17/2 to be able to secure a 95-run victory over St. Mary's Public School, Neb Sarai.

Kaushik dominated the 118-run third-wicket stand in 12.1 overs with Swapnil Bist (35, 30 balls, four fours) and the 57-run fourth-wicket partnership in 6.5 overs with Vijayant Sahu (22 not out, 17 balls, one six). In reply, St. Mary's batted out the 20 overs but fell way short of making a chase of the 193-run target in a Group D match.

In Group K, St. Sophia Public School rode on a 105-run opening stand between Bharat Kunwar (45) and Sahil Tyagi (47) to score its second straight win, a comfortable 103-run verdict over Air Force Bal Bharati School. Left-arm spinner Prashant Singh was in the forefront of the defence of the St. Sophia's 194/8, claiming 3/20.

MRV School, Dwarka, stayed in the race for a berth in the next stage with a facile eight-wicket win against St. Michael's Senior Secondary School in Group B. Its match against Cambridge Foundation Oct 12 assumes knockout proportions as Ganga International School looks set to take top place in the Group.

The scores:

Group B: St. Michael's Senior Secondary School 96/4 in 20 overs lost to MRV School, Dwarka, 97/2 in 15.5 overs (Saurav Chauhan 41 not out, Pradeep Kumar 27).

Group D: Modern School, Barakhamba Road, 192/4 in 20 overs (Madhav Kaushik 102, Swapnil Bist 35) beat St. Mary's Public School, Neb Sarai, 85/8 in 20 overs (Swapnil Bist 2/8, Himanshu Bhardwaj 3/19).

Group K: Bal Bhavan International School, Dwarka, 180/5 in 20 overs (Gupil Rai 41, Mayank Rawat 36, Ankit Pratap Singh 46) beat St. Mary's Public School 59 in 18.5 overs (Mayan Rawat 2/9, Dushyant Dagar 2/6, Dinesh Mor 3/11, Ankit Pratap Singh 2/13).

Group K: St. Sophia Public School 194/8 in 20 overs (Bharat Kunwar 45, Sahil Tyagi 47, Ayush Lajpal 2/42, Lashkar Kungan 3/33, Anirudh Shukla 2/18) beat Air Force Bal Bharati School 91/8 in 20 overs (Shivam Khattar 34, Prashant Singh 3/20, Sushil Gond 2/13, Sahil Tyagi 2/11).