Captain's Masterclass: Anindya's Unbeaten 58 and Harsh's Three-Fer Power CC to 42-Run Win Over Rising Stars
Anindya Hazra leads from the front with 58* off 28 at SR 207, PD and Vishal add blazing 39s to build 198, then Harsh Kumar Jha's 3/24 and Sachin Saroj's 2/32 dismantle Rising Stars for 156 as CC cruise to a commanding victory
Calcutta Challengers returned to winning ways with a commanding 42-run victory over Rising Stars, posting an imposing 198/6 in 13 overs before restricting the opposition to 156/9 in 11.3 overs. The match belonged to captain Anindya Hazra, whose unbeaten 58* off 28 balls was the spine of CC’s innings and whose leadership with the ball proved equally decisive. Harsh Kumar Jha’s devastating 3/24 in 3 overs at an economy of 8.00 was the bowling performance of the match, collapsing Rising Stars’ middle order just when the chase was gathering momentum. PD and Vishal Jaiswal each struck 39 in contrasting styles to give the total its firepower, while Sachin Saroj and Debangshu chipped in with two wickets apiece to seal the win.
Anindya Hazra: The Captain’s Innings
When a captain walks in at No. 3 with the score at 43/2 and the innings needing direction, the job is to build. When Anindya Hazra does it, he builds at a strike rate of 207. His 58* off 28 balls — five fours, four sixes — was the innings around which everything else was constructed. He came in after Biswajeet Dey’s departure in the 2.5th over and did not relinquish control for a single delivery of the remaining ten overs. His partnership with PD was worth a massive 75 runs (43 to 118), steadying the innings before the late assault. He was still there at the end, unbeaten on 58, the last man standing and the reason CC posted a total that was always going to be a stretch for Rising Stars.
What made the innings special was not just the numbers but the timing. When wickets fell around him — PD caught at 118/3, Vishal caught at 174/4, Sachin gone first ball at 174/5 — Anindya never changed gear. He simply found a new partner and kept scoring. His four sixes told the story of a captain who leads not with caution but with ambition. And his half-over with the ball — conceding 19 including three sixes but taking the critical wicket of Benimadhab (40 off 14) to end the most dangerous partnership in the RS innings — underlined that he was involved at every moment of CC’s victory.
58 not out. The captain’s bat. Anindya Hazra walked in when CC needed steadiness and left when the total was match-winning. That is what good captains do.
PD and Vishal: The Twin 39s That Built the Total
Either side of Anindya’s anchor innings, two batters exploded in short, devastating bursts that took CC from a good total to a great one.
PD (wk) batted at four and produced 39 off 16 balls — four fours, three sixes, strike rate 243.75. Coming in at 43/2 with the score needing a push, PD provided exactly that, his partnership with Anindya rapidly turning the innings from recovery to assault. His dismissal off Benimadhab at 118/3 ended a partnership that had added 75 in fewer than five overs. Thirty-nine off 16 is not a cameo — it is a match-defining contribution that the scoreboard can only partially capture.
Vishal Jaiswal was even more brutal: 39 off just 13 balls, two fours and four sixes, at a strike rate of 300.00. He arrived at 118/3 in the seventh over and immediately switched to attack mode. His partnership with Anindya pushed CC from 118 to 174 inside four overs, a period in which the match was effectively won with the bat. When Rishav Dubey removed him at 174/4 in the 11.1st over, the damage was done. Four sixes off 13 balls, a strike rate of 300: Vishal’s time at the crease was brief and utterly decisive.
Harsh Kumar Jha: Three Wickets, Eight Economy, Match Won
If the batting set the table, Harsh Kumar Jha served the decisive blow with the ball. His 3/24 in 3 overs at Eco 8.00 was the best bowling performance of the match by any bowler from either side — miserly, disciplined and ruthlessly effective. He removed Rishav Dubey (12 off 5) at the top of the order before claiming Mandal Abhishek (3 off 3) and Rajib Paul (10 off 7) in successive strikes in the middle overs. Three wickets in three overs, nine dot balls, not a single six conceded across his entire spell. While other CC bowlers went at 13 to 38 per over, Harsh kept the scoreboard under pressure and kept tumbling wickets.
In a total defence, a bowler who gives you three wickets at economy 8 is worth more than any individual batting performance. Harsh delivered exactly that, and the match was never really in doubt once he had done his damage.
Nine dot balls. Three wickets. An economy of 8. Harsh Kumar Jha’s three-over spell did not just take wickets — it dismantled Rising Stars’ belief that 198 was chaseable.
Sachin Saroj, Debangshu & the Bowling Unit
Sachin Saroj took two crucial wickets — Golok Bera (caught-and-bowled for 17 off 5) and Saheb (7 off 3) — finishing with 2/32 in 2 overs. His caught-and-bowled to remove Golok Bera at 2/3 in the third over was a vital early breakthrough that prevented any momentum building at the top. Debangshu bowled tightly for 1/19 in 2 overs at Eco 9.50, removing Avinash Kumar (23 off 15) — the captain who was building a late rescue — to break what had briefly felt like a threatening lower-order partnership. Suraj Prahladka removed Mohit Dubey with the first ball of the innings to set the tone.
Anindya Hazra himself finished off Benimadhab (40 off 14, the highest RS score) in the 11th over with a catch taken by Biswajeet Dey, ending the one innings that had threatened to make the total more competitive. At 156/9 in 11.3 overs, Rising Stars fell 42 runs short — a comprehensive margin in a format where every run comes at pace.
Rising Stars — Benimadhab Fights Back, But It Is Not Enough
Rising Stars never found the platform they needed. Mohit Dubey went off the first ball, Golok Bera fell for 17, and by the third over the chase was already behind. Rishav Dubey (12 off 5), Mandal Abhishek (3) and Rajib Paul (10) all came and went to Harsh Kumar Jha. Captain Avinash Kumar’s steady 23 off 15 (SR 153.33) showed what the innings could have been, but he arrived too late in the order to change the equation. The one genuine highlight for Rising Stars was Benimadhab’s 40 off 14 balls (four fours, four sixes, SR 285.71) — a counter-attack that gave the final scoreline some respectability and made the last few overs tense. But 156 was always going to fall short of 198, and Anindya Hazra’s well-judged half-over spell ended Benimadhab’s threat just as it was building.
Calcutta Challengers — Batting (198/6 in 13.0 Ov)
| Batsman | Status | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| KARTTICK CHANDRA GIRI | c&b Mohit Dubey | 6 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 150.00 |
| Biswajeet Dey | c †Bishnu Mishra b Avinash Kumar | 26 | 12 | 0 | 4 | 216.67 |
| 🏆 Anindya Hazra (c) (not out) | not out | 58* | 28 | 5 | 4 | 207.14 |
| P D (wk) | c †Bishnu Mishra b Benimadhab | 39 | 16 | 4 | 3 | 243.75 |
| Vishal Jaiswal | c Mandal Abhishek b Rishav Dubey | 39 | 13 | 2 | 4 | 300.00 |
| Sachin Saroj | c Mandal Abhishek b Rishav Dubey | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Satyakam | c&b Mohit Dubey | 6 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 150.00 |
| Harsh Kumar Jha (not out) | not out | 10* | 4 | 2 | 0 | 250.00 |
| Extras (wd 10, nb 4) | 14 | |||||
| Total: 13.0 Ov, 6 Wkts | 198 (CRR 15.23) | |||||
Did not bat: Debangshu, Suraj Prahladka, Nasir Uddin Baidya
Fall of Wickets — Calcutta Challengers
11-1 (KARTTICK CHANDRA GIRI, 1.1 ov), 43-2 (Biswajeet Dey, 2.5 ov), 118-3 (P D, 7.5 ov), 174-4 (Vishal Jaiswal, 11.1 ov), 174-5 (Sachin Saroj, 11.2 ov), 182-6 (Satyakam, 12.1 ov)
Bowling — Rising Stars
| Bowler | O | M | R | W | WD | NB | Eco |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avinash Kumar (c) | 3 | 0 | 46 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 15.33 |
| Mohit Dubey | 3 | 0 | 51 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 17.00 |
| Mandal Abhishek | 2 | 0 | 42 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 21.00 |
| ⭐ Rishav Dubey | 3 | 0 | 31 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 10.33 |
| Benimadhab | 2 | 0 | 28 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 14.00 |
Rising Stars — Batting (156/9 in 11.3 Ov)
| Batsman | Status | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mohit Dubey | c Vishal Jaiswal b SURAJ PRAHLADKA | 6 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 300.00 |
| Bishnu Mishra | run out (Biswajeet Dey / SURAJ PRAHLADKA) | 16 | 10 | 3 | 0 | 160.00 |
| Golok Bera | c&b Sachin Saroj | 17 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 340.00 |
| Rishav Dubey | b Harsh Kumar Jha | 12 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 240.00 |
| Mandal Abhishek | c †P D b Harsh Kumar Jha | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 100.00 |
| Rajib Paul | c P D b Harsh Kumar Jha | 10 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 142.86 |
| Avinash Kumar (c) | c P D b Debangshu | 23 | 15 | 3 | 1 | 153.33 |
| Saheb | c Anindya Hazra b Sachin Saroj | 7 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 233.33 |
| ⭐ Benimadhab | c Biswajeet Dey b Anindya Hazra | 40 | 14 | 4 | 4 | 285.71 |
| Toxic (not out) | not out | 9* | 8 | 2 | 0 | 112.50 |
| Extras (wd 10, nb 3) | 13 | |||||
| Total: 11.3 Ov, 9 Wkts | 156 (CRR 13.57) | |||||
Bowling — Calcutta Challengers
| Bowler | O | M | R | W | WD | NB | Eco |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SURAJ PRAHLADKA | 2 | 0 | 31 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 15.50 |
| Satyakam | 1 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 13.00 |
| Sachin Saroj | 2 | 0 | 32 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 16.00 |
| ⭐ Harsh Kumar Jha | 3 | 0 | 24 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 8.00 |
| Debangshu | 2 | 0 | 19 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 9.50 |
| P D | 1 | 0 | 18 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 18.00 |
| Anindya Hazra (c) | 0.3 | 0 | 19 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 38.00 |
Result
Calcutta Challengers won by 42 runs — CC 198/6 (13.0 Ov), Rising Stars 156/9 (11.3 Ov)
- Man of the Match: Anindya Hazra — 58* (28b, 5×4, 4×6, SR 207.14) + 1 wicket 🏆
- Best Bowler: Harsh Kumar Jha — 3/24 (3 Ov, Eco 8.00) ⭐
- Key Bat: P D — 39 (16b, 4×4, 3×6, SR 243.75) & Vishal Jaiswal — 39 (13b, 2×4, 4×6, SR 300.00)
- RS Best: Benimadhab — 40 (14b, 4×4, 4×6, SR 285.71) & Rishav Dubey — 2/31 (3 Ov, Eco 10.33)
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