Vijay Hazare Trophy: Yuvraj Singh’s heroics take Punjab through; Karnataka, Mumbai knocked out

It was heartbreak for Mumbai as despite registering a comprehensive seven-wicket win over Hyderabad, they failed to qualify for the knock-out round from Group A of the Vijay Hazare Trophy One-Day cricket tournament, here today.

Mumbai cruised to a seven-wicket win over Hyderabad, but Punjab’s three-wicket win over Services here meant the western outfit was eliminated from the knockouts despite winning four out of their six matches.

Tamil Nadu and Punjab qualified for the quarterfinals from Group A garnering 20 points apiece from six matches, while Mumbai could only manage 16 points from as many games.

Opting to bat, Hyderabad scored 217 for eight, which was achieved largely on the back of skipper Hanuma Vihari’s 95 and Jawed Ali’s unbeaten run-a-ball 44 towards trhe end.

But Mumbai chased down the target quite easily in 44.2 overs, with Akhil Herwadkar (85) and Shreyas Iyer (84) hitting the high notes.

Their 134-run stand between Herwadkar and Iyer flattened Hyderabad, even before Ajinkya Rahane made a sprightly unbeaten 31 to take Mumbai home by seven wickets.

Brief Scores:

Hyderabad: 217 for seven in 50 overs (Hanuma Vihari 95; Shardul Thakur 2/33).

Mumbai: 221 for three in 44.2 overs (Akhil Herwadkar 85, Shreyas Iyer 84; Mehdi Hasan 1/36).

Defending champions Karnataka today crashed out of the Vizay Hazare Trophy one-day cricket tournament despite registering a massive 207-run win over Jammu and Kashmir in their final Group B match here today.

Riding on Chidhambaram Gautam’s unbeaten 109 off 102 balls, Karnataka piled on an imposing 349 for 5 after being put into bat and then bowled out J&K for 142 in just 27.3 overs at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Karnataka ended third in their group with 16 points from six matches (winning four and losing two matches), behind Jharkhand and Gujarat — both on 20 points. Only two top teams qualify for the knock-out round.

J&K ended at the bottom of the seven-team group after losing all their six matches.

Gautam, who hit 10 fours and two sixes in his unbeaten knock, added 145 for the fifth wicket with Manish Pandey (79 off 70 balls), and 91, off only 37 balls, with captain Vinay Kumar, who smashed an unbeaten 51 off 20 with three fours and five sixes.

Chasing 350, J&K made a poor start, losing both their openers Asif Rasool (13) and Shubham Khajuria (1) within the first four overs.

Bandeep Singh (42) and Ian Dev Singh (35) kept in the hunt for a while with the third-wicket stand of 78 at 8.06 runs per over. But, J&K collapsed after Sreenath Aravind dismissed both of them in the same over.

J&K lost their last eight wickets for 50 runs, their innings ending at the 28th over.

All the Karnataka bowlers got at least a wicket. Jagadeesha Suchith grabbed three wickets while Vinay Kumar, Aravind, Shreyas Gopal took two apiece. Abhimanyu Mithun got one wicket.

Yuvraj Heroics help Punjab qualify

Out-of-favour India all-rounder Yuvraj Singh powered Punjab chase of 324 with a quickfire 98 as his team defeated Services by three wickets and qualify for the knockout stages of the Vijay Hazare cricket tournament, here today.

Opting to bowl, Punjab saw Services pile up 323 for seven with the help of twin centuries by Nakul Verma (113) and Soumya Swain (101) in the stipulated overs at the Railways Recreation Club Ground.

Verma hit nine boundaries and a six in his 125-ball knock, while Swain needed just 90 balls to score his runs and struck 10 fours.

In reply, Punjab were off to a solid start with openers Pargat Singh (49 off 39 balls) and Jiwanjot Singh (41 off 35) adding 82 runs for the first wicket in 10 overs.

Mandeep Singh made 45 off 56 balls, while Mayank Sidhana scored 46 runs off 49 deliveries.

However, it was Yuvraj who anchored the chase before skipper Harbhajan (16 not out) and Gitansh Khera (13) took the team past the daunting target.

Yuvraj smashed eight boundaries and four sixes, facing 83 balls.

HP finish on top in Group D, qualify for quarterfinals

Riding on a strong batting show, Himachal Pradesh secured a place in the knockout stage of the Vijay Hazare Trophy as they won their last Group D match against Madhya Pradesh by 41 runs, here today.

Rishi Dhawan struck an unbeaten 117 while Robin Bisht scored 84 as Himachal Pradesh put on board 295 for five after being invited to bat.

Dhawan hit 13 boundaries in his 88-ball fiery knock.

HP bowled out Madhya Pradesh for 254 and finished on top of the table with four wins from five matches.

The other team to qualify for the knockout stage was Uttar Pradesh, who finished second in Group. UP also had four wins to show but Himachal’s NRR was better.

Medium paceman Pankaj Jaiswal wreaked havoc with his six-wicket haul as he ripped apart the top and middle order of Madhya Pradesh.

Venkatesh Iyer (57) and Parth Sahani (42) showed stomach for fight but their efforts proved little.

Brief Scores:

Himachal Pradesh: 295 for 5 in 50 overs. (R Dhawan 117 not out, R Bisht 84; C Sakure 1/37).

Madhya Pradesh: 254 all out in 46.1 overs.(V Iyer 57, P Sahani 42; P Jaiswal 6/40).

Unmukt Chand powers Delhi into quarters

Opener Unmukt Chand smashed an unbeaten 118 off 99 balls to fire Delhi to a nine wicket win over Andhra and reach the quarterfinals of the Vijay Hazare Trophy here today.

Delhi ended Group C in second spot, having earned 12 points from five wins in six matches. Vidarbha topped the group with 12 points on a better run-rate.

Thanks to the fireworks provided by Chand, Delhi made short work of the 184-run target, reaching home in 34.1 overs.

Andhra ended their innings at 183 with left-arm spinner Pawan Negi (3/29) being the pick of Delhi bowlers.

Chand hit top form after failing in his last three innings. His sublime knock comprised 14 fours and four sixes.

Delhi captain Gautam Gambhir was run out after making 30 runs off 60 balls. The southpaw’s 67 against Odisha was his sole fifty plus knock in the league stage.

Chand had the company of Himmat Singh (29 not out off 46) towards the end of the successful chase.

Brief scores: Andhra 183 all out 49.2 overs (D Siva Kumar 38; Pawan Negi 3/29). Delhi 184/1 in 34.1 overs (Unmukt Chand 118 not out).

TN crush Rajasthan by 252 runs, qualify as group topper

Dinesh Karthik and Baba Aparajith struck fluent centuries, while Rahi Shah picked up six wickets, as Tamil Nadu registered a massive 252-run victory over Rajasthan in their Group A Vijay Hazare Trophy cricket match here today.

Tamil Nadu put up a mammoth 384 for seven in the stipulated 50 overs, and then bundled out hapless Rajasthan for 132 in 26.2 overs to qualify for the knockouts as group topper.

Medium pacer Shah was the star performer with the ball for Tamil Nadu, returning excellent figures of six for 37 in 8.2 overs.

Sent into bat at the Gymkhana Ground, Tamil Nadu rode on a 199-run partnership for the second wicket between Karthik and Aparajith to reach a comfortable 218 for two in the 35th over.

Aparajith then added 108 runs for the fourth wicket with Murali Vijay, who smashed 74 off a mere 44 balls with the help of six boundaries and three sixes.

Karthik hit 12 fours and a six in his 97-ball knock, while Aparajith found the fence 13 times while facing 122 deliveries as Tamil Nadu, who have won five out of the six matches, posted a mammoth total.

Karn’s five-for give Railways win over Haryana

Leg-spinner Karn Sharma’s five-wicket haul helped Railways end their campaign with a 106-run win over Haryana in an inconsequential Group B match of the Vijay Hazare Trophy One-Day cricket tournament, here today.

Chasing a modest 220 for win, Haryana were bowled out for 113, inside 36 overs, as Karn finished with figures of five for 13 in 9.1 overs. Only Nitin Saini (20) and Rohit Sharma (26) got past 20 among the Haryana batsmen.

Eailier sent in to bat, Railways made 219 for seven in their 50 overs, with Arindam Ghosh anchoring their innings with a 118-ball 76.

Ghosh struck five fours and a six, and added 77 with Karn (29) for the fifth wicket.

The win hardly had any significance for Railways as they finished fourth in Group B with 12 points, a place above Haryana, who finished their engagements with eight points.

Jharkhand and Gujarat are the two teams which qualified for the knock-outs from Group B.

Brief Scores:

Railways: 219 for seven in 50 overs (Arindam Ghosh 76; Ashish Hooda 2/28)

Haryana: 113 all out in 35.1 overs (Rohit Sharma 26; Karn Sharma 5/13).

Saurashtra beat Bengal but not enough for knock-out berth

Youngster Samarth Vyas struck 94 on his List A debut as Saurashtra beat Bengal by six wickets in their Vizay Hazare Trophy one-day cricket Group D match here today.

The win was, however, not enough for Saurashtra to qualify for the knockouts as they finished third in Group D with 12 points behind Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh (both on 16 points).

Only top two teams from each of the four groups make it to the knock-out phase.

Bengal finished fifth in the six-team group with four points from five matches.

Electing to bat, Bengal notched up 243 for 5 in their allotted 50 overs but Saurashtra chased down the target with four overs to spare at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium.

None of the Bengal batsmen scored a half century and they were guilty of frittering away starts — as many as three of them got out in the 40s.

Opener Abhimanyu Easwaran top-scored with a 48 while captain Manoj Tiwary (43) and Shreevats Goswami (42) were the other notable contributors for Bengal.

Left-arm spinner Dharmendrasinh Jadeja did bulk of the damage, finishing with 3 for 46 off 10 overs.

Saurashtra’s chase was driven by Vyas, who put on a 136-run opening stand with Sheldon Jackson (50), before Cheteshwar Pujara’s unbeaten 50 steered them home by reaching 246 for 4 in 46 overs.