Vijay Hazare Trophy: Nitish Rana smashes 91, Delhi beat Hyderabad by 6 wickets

Skipper Gautam Gambhir was once again solid at the top of the order, scoring 41 off 47 balls with six boundaries.

However, it was Rana, who stole the show with his shots square of the wicket. A pulled six off Chama Milind behind square was a treat to watch. He was equally dominant against the spinners, cutting anything wide with ferocity. Mohammed Siraj’s pace was also used to guide it behind the square.

The match ended when Himmat Singh hit spinner Mehidy Hasan for a straight six. From Delhi’s point of view, the only disappointment was Unmukt Chand (0), who looked completely out of sorts as he was bowled off the second delivery by Ravi Kiran.

Earlier, when Hyderabad batted, it was the burly Manan, who choked the run flow in the middle overs by bowling flat and on the stumps, to return with four wickets. Opening bowlers Navdeep Saini (2/45 in 10 overs) and Simarjeet Singh (1/21 in 7 overs) also bowled tight lines during the first spell as Hyderabad could never force the pace.

It was Siraj’s cameo (36 off 24 balls), with two sixes, that helped them cross 200. In the day’s other group B matches, Chhattisgarh beat Uttar Pradesh by four wickets, while Kerala defeated Odisha by six wickets.

BRIEF SCORES:

Hyderabad: 205 all out in 47.4 overs (B Sandeep 51, Manan Sharma 4/42).

Delhi: (Revised 176 in 39 overs) (Nitish Rana 91 no off 87 balls, Gautam Gambhir 41 off 47 balls).

Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer sizzle as Mumbai beat Karnataka by 88 runs

Skipper Ajinkya Rahane and Shreyas Iyer struck tons as Mumbai routed Karnataka by 88 runs in their Elite Group A Vijay Hazare match here on Friday. Asked to bat first, Mumbai posted a mammoth 362/5 in their 50 overs before bundling out Karnataka for 274.

Rahane, dropped from the Indian squad in white ball cricket, led from the front with his blistering 148-run knock at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. Rahane continued from where he had left in the last game.

The India Test vice-captain, who struggled for runs in England recently, hammered a listless Karnataka attack in his 150-ball innings containing 13 fours and three sixes. He, along with young opener Prithvi Shaw (60), stitched a 106-run stand for the first wicket to lay the foundation of a big total.

Rahane then found an able partner in Iyer (110) as the two frustrated the opposition bowlers in their big 216-run second-wicket stand. Iyer was more attacking as he struck five fours and had eight other hits over the fence. Then Mumbai’s slow left-arm orthodox bowler Shams Mulani got into the act as he returned with fine figures of 4-71.

His scalps were Mayank Agarwal (66), C M Gautam (12), Stuart Binny (1) and R Vinay Kumar (36).

Mumbai bowlers struck at regular intervals as it was an uphill task for Karnataka and they eventually folded up well adrift of the target.

In the other two Elite Group A games played at nearby Alur, Punjab ticked all boxes to thrash Vidarbha by a massive 141 runs, while Goa defeated Railways by 42 runs.

Summarised scores: At Bengaluru: Mumbai 362/5 in 50 overs (Ajinkya Rahane 148, Shreyas Iyer 110; K Gowtham 1-40) beat Karnataka 274 all out in 45 overs (Mayank Agarwal 66, K Gowtham 38; Shams Mulani 4-71) by 88 runs.

At Alur: Goa 317/5 in 50 overs (Sumiran Amonkar 82, Snehal Kauthankar 67; Ankit Yadav 2-49) beat Railways 275 all out in 47.2 overs (Amit Paunikar 84, Mrunal Devdhar 68; Krishna Das 4-50) by 42 runs.

Punjab 278/7 in 50 overs (Gurkeerat Mann 85 not out, Yuvraj Singh 41; Srikant Wagh 3-69) beat Vidarbha 137 all out in 40.5 overs (Ganesh Satish 60, Shrikant Wagh 33; Mandeep Singh 2-15) by 141 runs.

Puducherry crash to 65-run defeat after BCCI action; Arunachal, Nagaland win

A day after the Indian Cricket Board’s crackdown on eight of their players, Puducherry crashed to a 65-run defeat to Uttarakhand in a plate group match of the Vijay Hazare Trophy one-day tournament here Friday.

The BCCI cancelled the registration of the eight players for flouting eligibility norms, weakening a Puducherry team that was was bundled out for 226 and falling way short of the 292-run target after opting to field.

Uttarakhand grabbed the initiative early to post 291 for seven with opener Karanveer Kaushal striking 101, while No. 3 Vaibhav Bhatt made 73 in a 173-run stand.

Puducherry’s veteran all-rounder Abhishek Nayar missed his third List A century by six runs as they struggled to get going after the left-hander’s 86-run partnership with A S Govindaraajan 58.

Sunny Rana was the pick of the bowler with 4/52 from his 10 overs as Uttarkhand secured their first win, a day after starting with a loss to Bihar.

Arunachal Pradesh defeated Sikkim by 49 runs at the Motibaug Cricket Ground in Vadodara to post their second win of the tournament. Techi Doria struck 122 from 149 balls (13×4, 3×6) in a 154-run opening stand with Samarth Seth (89) as Arunachal Pradesh notched 306 for nine. Sikkim responded positively with Nilesh Lamichaney’s 123 from 145 balls (11×4, 2×6), and the opener added 99 with Faizan Khan (47). Seth impressed with the ball too, breaking the partnership, as Sikkim choked in the big chase.

In Nadiad, Nagaland rode on wicketkeeper batsman K B Pawan’s unbeaten 113 to register a thumping seven-wicket win over Meghalaya. Opting to bat, Meghalaya were off to a good start, courtesy opener Raj Biswa’s 99-ball 71. Lower down the order Yogesh Nagar remained unbeaten on 58 while Gurinder Singh struck 56 to help Meghalaya post 246 for six. However, Pawan anchored the chase with his majestic century and was backed by Rongsen Jonathan (43), as they romped home with 15 balls to spare.

Summarised scores:

At Anand: Puducherry Uttarakhand 291/7; 50 overs (Karanveer Kaushal 101, Vaibhav Bhatt 73; Pankaj Singh 3/68) beat Puducherry 226; 45.2 overs (Abhishek Nayar 94, A S Govindaraajan 58; Sunny Rana 4/52) by 65 runs.

At Nadiad: Meghalaya 246/6; 50 overs (Raj Biswa 71, Yogesh Nagar 58 not out, Gurinder Singh 56) lost to Nagaland 247/3; 47.3 overs (Pawan KB 113 not out, Sedezhalie Rupero 50, Rongsen Jonathan 43) by seven wickets.

At Vadodara: Arunachal Pradesh 306/4; 50 overs (Techi Doria 122, Samarth Seth 89) beat Sikkim 257/7; 50 overs (Nilesh Lamichaney 123, Faizan Khan 47) by 49 runs.

Spinners have field day in Vijay Hazare trophy matches

It was spinners’ day out as veteran Amit Mishra (Haryana), C V Varun (Tamil Nadu) and Harmeet Singh (Tripura) came up with impressive performances to help their teams post victories here Friday in the Vijay Hazare Trophy Elite Group ‘C’ matches.

Thirty-five-year old leg-spinner Mishra, who has been in and out of the national squad and is aiming for a comeback, bowled beautifully to bamboozle the Assam batting line-up.

He bowled unchanged in a 10-over spell to help Haryana bundle out Assam for 81 in 30.2 overs. From 39 for no loss in the ninth over, Mishra engineered a collapse to leave the rivals in a spin as only three batsmen managed to reach double figures.

Sixteen-year-old Riyan Parag was the top-scorer with 24. Chasing 82 for victory, the Haryana openers went about the task in an aggressive manner with Harshal Patel (37) hammering four sixers in his 21-ball knock to make the job easy.

In the Tamil Nadu-Services match, N Jagadeesan, pushed up to open the batting, blasted a superb century to power the former to 315 for 4 in 50 overs.

Left-handed opener Abhinav Mukund (69) and B Indrajith (76) lent solidity to the host team’s effort.

In response, the Services’ openers began in right earnest with Nakul H Verma being particularly impressive. He smashed 60 off 55 balls, inclusive of nine fours and a six, and put on 85 runs for the first wicket with A R Pachara (15).

Mystery spinner Varun provided the opening Tamil Nadu was looking for as he had Verma caught and bowled. Pachara fell one run later and Services kept losing wickets at regular intervals to slip behind in the run-rate.

Only captain Rajat Paliwal offered resistance among the other batsmen as Varun finished with memorable figures of 5 for 38 in just his second List A match.

Earlier, openers Jagadeesan and Mukund added 173 runs in 186 balls to set the platform for Tamil Nadu.

In the third match of the day, a reduced game (35 overs), left-arm spinner Harmeet took 5 for 10 as Jammu & Kashmir crahed to 79 all out.

Tripura huffed and puffed its way to a win, in the 31st over with Nirupam Sen Choudhary making 24.

Brief scores: Assam 81 in 30.2 overs (Riyan Parag 24, Arun Chaprana 3 for 4, Amit Mishra 6 for 13) lost to Haryana 83 for 2 in 11.2 overs (Shubham Rohilla 31 not out, Harshal Patel 37).

Points: Haryana: 4; Assam: 0.

J&K 79 in 30 overs (Ahmad Omar Banday 24, Neelambuj Vats 3 for 17, Harmeet Singh 5 for 10) lost to Tripura 81 for 6 in 30.5 overs (Nirupam Sen Choudhary 24).

Points: Tripura: 4; J & K: 0.

Tamil Nadu 315 for 4 in 50 overs (N Jagadeesan 133 (130b, 17×4), Abhinav Mukund 69 (89b, 4×4, 1×6), B Indrajith 76 not out (58b, 3×4, 3×6), Varun Choudhary 3 for 63) beat Services 232 in 46 overs (Nakul Verma 60 (55b, 9×4, 1×6), Rajat Paliwal (52 (61b, 2×4), Arjun Sharma 46, B Aparajith 3 for 29, C V Varun 5 for 38).

Points: TN:4; Services:0