Chhattisgarh Men's T20 Invitation Cup 2023: How did the IPL Players fare on Day 1 of the tournament?

In the season opener of the Chhattisgarh Men's T20 Invitation Cup, Kerala secured a decisive seven-wicket victory over Jharkhand.

In the second game, Andhra emerged victorious defeating Chhattisgarh Red by eight wickets. Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium in Raipur hosted both these encounters.

In the first game, Kerala won the toss and elected to bat first, putting Jharkhand into bat. Jharkhand had a promising start with Saurabh Tiwary and Nazim Siddiqui forging a 43-run opening partnership before the latter was dismissed for 28 runs. Regrettably, the middle order couldn't sustain the momentum.

In the lower middle-order, Bhanu Anand played a remarkable innings, scoring a 35-run unbeaten knockoff of 22 balls with four fours, which propelled his side to 131/7 in 20 overs. Off-spinner Vinoop Manoharan was the wrecker-in-chief with a three-wicket haul for Kerala.

In response, Kerala lost their opener Vishnu Raj for just nine runs. However, other batters Anand Krishnan, Ajnas M, and Sachin Baby finished things off in style with four overs to spare. Jharkhand medium pacer Rahul Shukla scalped two wickets but it wasn’t enough to turn the tide in their favor.

Moving to the second game of the day, Chhattisgarh Red batted first and posted a competitive total of 177/6 in 20 overs. It came courtesy of their opening duo of Shashank Chandraker and Anuj Tiwary, who smacked their respective half-centuries. However, other batters failed to create any significant impact.

In reply, Andhra lost their opener Manyala Pranith for just one run. However, Ashwin Hebbar took things on his shoulders and smacked the season's first-ever century with 117* runs off 65 balls, including 10 fours and seven sixes.

Ashwin was well supported by Shaik Rasheed at no.3 with a 44-run knock. Andhra finished off the chase in 18.4 overs with eight wickets remaining.

On that note, let’s take a look at how the IPL players fared on Day 1 of the Chhattisgarh Men's T20 Invitation Cup 2023.

Saurabh Tiwary (Jharkhand)

Jharkhand skipper Saurabh Tiwary scored a decent knock of 33 runs off 35 balls, featuring three fours and one six at a strike rate of 94.29. However, he was sent packing by off-spinner Vinoop Manoharan.

Sachin Baby (Kerala)

Sachin Baby, the Kerala skipper, did a fair job with the willow, amassing 32 runs off 22 balls, with two fours and as many sixes at a strike rate of 145.45. His knock was cut short by medium pacer Rahul Shukla. With the ball, he conceded 11 runs without picking a wicket in his two-over spell.

Shaik Rasheed (Andhra)

The emerging talent Shaik Rasheed batted at no.3 and delivered an impressive performance, scoring crucial 44 runs off just 28 balls, featuring two fours and three sixes. Unfortunately, his brilliance at the crease was ended by the medium pacer Mayank Yadav.

Ricky Bhui (Andhra)

Keeper-batter and captain Ricky Bhui scored 14* runs off 13 balls with one four and moreover, he plucked a catch and effected a brilliant stumping behind the wickets.