Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd, State Bank of Hyderabad (SBH) and State Bank of Travancore (SBT) scored facile wins in their first league matches of the All India PSU cricket tournament, being hosted by RCF, here today.
The verdicts against Bharat Petroleum (BPCL), Indian Oil (IOC) and ONGC respectively have put the victors in an advantageous position in their respective three-team groups as the toppers go into the semis along with reigning champions Air India.
On a seaming RCF track here, only old-warhorse Wasim Jaffer (54) batted confidently for IOC, who were without India players Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara, against an attack in which young Hyderabad pacer Ravi Kiran took 4 for 16.
In the SBT-ONGC tie, the former scored 166 for 3 with contributions from Kevin Oscar (62), Raiphi Gomez (62 not out) and then restricted star-studded ONGC to 159 for 6. Only Tanmay Shrivastava (38) and Mithun Manhas (21) batted well for the losers.
BPCL, without key players Suryakumar Yadav and Abhishek Nayar, struggled to score 143 for 8 in reply to BSNL's 155 for 9.
For BSNL, Satish Kumar scored 41 and Kuldeep Diwan, a fluent 56, while S Kotak claimed 4 for 14. Sanju Samson (76) and Bhavin Thakkar (37) tried their best to overhaul the score but the Mumbai outfit fell short by 12 runs.
In Plate division, RCF trounced Coal India (CIL) after Shivam Dube made a hard-hitting 50. Medium pacer Som Singh Rawal ran through the CIL side claiming 4 wickets for almost nothing.
Brief scores: SBT 166 for 3 (K Oscar 62, Raiphi Gomez 62 not out) beat ONGC 159 for 6 (T Shrivastava 38; Vinod Kumar 2-29, Antaf P U 2-35, Shahid C P 2-32)
IOC 123 for 9 (W Jaffer 54; Ravikiran 4-16, A Yadav 2-20, V Sharma 2-12) lost to SBH 125 for 3 (T Suman 35, Sumanth 28 not out A Qadri 26 not out).
BSNL 155 for 9 (Satish Kumar 41, Kuldeep Diwan 56; S Kotak 4-14, C Milind 3-18) beat BPCL 143 for 8 (B Thakkar 41, Sanju Samson 76, S Pitre 2-20).
RCF 155 for 4 (S Dube 69) beat CIL 103 for 7 (Som S Rawal 4-1).
