Kushagra, Nitish shine; Jharkhand-Hyderabad contest well poised

Skipper Kumar Kushagra brought up his century (103) as Jharkhand posted 283 against Hyderabad on day two of the second-round match in the All India Buchi Babu invitational cricket tournament at the Guru Nanak college ground in Chennai on Saturday (August 23, 2025).

In response, Hyderabad reached 223 for four, courtesy of opener P. Nitish Reddy’s breezy 106. Nitish and left-hander Rahul Radesh (61 batting) added 124 runs for the second-wicket partnership.

Left-hander Soham Patwardhan, too, struck a ton to help Madhya Pradesh to 230 for nine versus Punjab at the MRF-Pachaiyappa’s ground.

A 158-run second-wicket stand between Qamran Iqbal (81) and Musaif Aijaz (80) helped Jammu & Kashmir secure a 104-run first-innings lead over Baroda at the TI-Murugappa ground.

For Baroda, left-arm spinner Aryan Chavda starred with five for 94.

The scores (round two, day two): Group-A: At Gojan-B: TNCA President’s XI 384/9 vs Maharashtra 105/2 in 24 overs (Prithvi Shaw 47 batting).

At SSN: Himachal Pradesh 144 vs Chhattisgarh; Play washed out.

Group-B: At TI-Murugappa: Baroda 176 & 4 for no loss in 1 over vs J&K 280 in 87.4 overs (Qamran Iqbal 81, Musaif Aijaz 80, Abid Mushtaq 49, Aryan Chavda 5/94).

At SRMC, turf: Odisha 222 vs Railways 138/6 in 48 overs.

Group-C: At Gojan-A: TNCA XI 414/8 vs Haryana; Play washed out.

At IITM-Chemplast: Mumbai 266 in 88 overs (Suved Parkar 47, Himanshu Singh 59, Ishan Porel 4/37) vs Bengal 57/1 in 20 overs.

Group-D: At MRF-Pachaiyappa’s: Madhya Pradesh 230/9 in 90 overs (Rudransh Singh 63, Soham Patwardhan 108) vs Punjab 137/2 in 33 overs (Harnoor Singh Pannu 45).

At Guru Nanak: Jharkhand 283 89.3 overs (Kumar Kushagra 103, Tanay Thyagarajan 4/75, Rohith Rayudu 4/69) vs Hyderabad 223/4 in 53 overs (P. Nitish Reddy 106, Rahul Radesh 61 batting).