Vijay Hazare Trophy wrap: KL Rahul, Vijay Shankar impress with big runs; Chhattisgarh stun Mumbai

Defending champions Mumbai were in for a shock as underdogs Chhattisgarh defeated them by 5 wickets in a high-scoring thriller in the Vijay Hazare Trophy in Bengaluru on Saturday.

At the Alur Cricket Stadium III, put into bat, Mumbai posted a descent 317/5 in their allotted 50 overs, but Chhattisgarh chased the target with one ball to spare and rode on a gritty 117* by middle-order batsman Amandeep Khare.

Put into bat, Mumbai’s experienced opener Aditya Tare slammed 90 off 107 balls and remained the top-scorer.

After Jay Bista (24) was dismissed cheaply, Tare got support from young prodigy Yashasvi Jaiswal (44) as the two rebuilt the innings.

Skipper Shreyas Iyer too chipped in with a 46-ball 50.

And when Iyer departed, Mumbai were comfortably poised at 238/4 in 45 overs.But the ever-reliable Surya Kumar Yadav had some different plans as he hammered 8 fours and six sixes in his quick fire 81 off 31 balls and took Chhattisgarh bowlers to task.

It was due to Surya’s blistering knock that Mumbai went past the 300-run mark.

Chhattisgarh did not have a good start with opener Shashank Chandrakar (5) falling early. Jiwanjyot Singh (44) and one-down Ashutosh Singh (35) tried to rally the innings. But Jiwanjyot was trapped by spinner Shams Mulani as Chhattisgarh were 82/2 and then Ashutosh also fell when the score was 95.

However, Khare showed his mettle and made a gritty 117 off just 94 balls, with 8 fours and 4 sixes to his credit.

He first got support from Shashank Singh (40) and then shared an unbeaten 96-run stand with Ajay Mandal (39*) as the two took the side home.

For Mumbai, Shams Mulani (3/33) was successful, but others, including experienced pacer Dhawal Kulkarni (1/66), had a bad day in office.

At the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Karnataka defeated Kerala by 60 runs, with KL Rahul slamming a hundred.

Rahul, who plays for India, took the opposition bowlers to task as he hit a stroke-filed 131 off 122 balls.

He hit 10 fours and four sixes and remained the top- scorer for his team.

Skipper Manish Pandey also chipped in with 50 off 51 balls, but then Kerala bowlers were successful in restricting them to 294.

But Karnataka bowlers put a spirited show despite a fighting hundred by Kerala opener Vishnu Vinod (104) to bowl them out for 234 and register a win.

Meanwhile, in another Elite Group A match, Hyderabad defeated Saurashtra by 121 runs at the Alur Cricket Stadium 2.

Brief scores: Mumbai 317/5 (Aditya Tare 90, Surya Kumar Yadav 81, Shreyas Iyer 50; Shashank Singh 2-54) lost to Chhattisgarh 318/5 (Amadeep Khare 117 not out, Jiwanjyot Singh 44, Shams Mulani 3-33) by 5 wickets.

Mumbai 0 points, Chhattisgarh 4 points.

Hyderabad 252/5 (Tanmay Agarwal 79, Tilak Verma 65; Jaydev Unadkat 2-46) beat Saurashtra 131 (Sheldon Jackson 39, Chirag Jani 23, B Sandeep 5-26) by 121 runs.

Hyderabad 4 points, Saurashtra 0 points.

Karnataka 294 all out (K L Rahul 131, Manish Pandey 50; Asif K M 3-59) beat Kerala 234 all out (Vishnu Vinod 104, Sanju Samson 67; Ronit More 3-42) by 60 runs.

Karnataka 4 points, Kerala 0 points.

Vijay Shankar returns with a bang

All-rounder Vijay Shankar marked his return from injury with a superb knock of 91 (88 balls, 6 fours, 1 six) to power Tamil Nadu to a seven-wicket win over Bihar in a Vijay Hazare Trophy Group C match in Jaipur on Saturday.

Tamil Nadu made 218/3 in 46.5 overs in reply to Bihar’s 217 for 7 in 50 overs to notch up a third straight victory.

Shankar, who missed the one-dayers and unofficial Tests in the India ‘A’ series against South Africa ‘A’, bowled six overs to pick up 1 for 17 and then unfurled a series of superb shots to showcase his form.

Earlier, captain Babul Kumar made 110 (136 balls, 12 fours, 1 six) as Bihar recovered from a poor start to make 217 after electing to bat.

Babul Kumar added 89 runs for the third wicket with Rahmat Ullah (38, 52 balls, 7 fours) and 93 runs with Keshav Kumar (35, 74 balls, 3 fours) for the fourth wicket.

Babul Kumar’s fine knock, during which he looked in complete control, contained some lovely shots on both sides of the wicket. His dismissal saw Bihar lose way and end up with only 217.

Openers Abhinav Mukund and N Jagadeesan provided a solid start for Tamil Nadu, putting on 59 runs before the latter fell for 37 (40 balls, 5 fours) to Samar Quadri. Jagadeesan fell ten runs later, to Sachin Kumar Singh (24).

The dismissal of C Hari Nishaanth with the score at 75 brought B Aparajith (52 not out, 66 balls, 1 four) and Vijay Shankar together. While Shankar was in an aggressive mood and hit some beautiful shots, Aparajith was content to work the ball around and rotate strike.

Brief scores:

Bihar 217 for 7 in 50 overs (Babul Kumar 110, Rahmat Ullah 38, Keshav Kumar 35, M Mohammed 3/33) lost to Tamil Nadu 218 for 3 in 46.5 overs (Vijay Shankar 91 not out, B Aparajith 52 not out).

TN: 4 points, Bihar: 0.

Gujarat 281 for 9 in 50 overs (Parthiv Patel 90, B H Merai 69, Ishwar Pandey 4/46, Gourav Yadav 3/46) beat Madhya Pradesh 246 all out in 50 overs (Rajat Patidar 71, A Nagwaswalla 3/50).

Gujarat: 4 points, MP: 0.

Services 276 for 6 in 50 overs (N H Verma 52, Ravi Chauhan 49, AA Nandi 2/33) lost Bengal 277 for 6 in 49.4 overs (Abhishek Raman 106, Wriddhiman Saha 43).

Bengal: 4 points, Services: 0.

More abandoned matches

Yashpal Singh and Iqbal Abdulla shared seven wickets between them as Sikkim bundled out Manipur for 120 in their abandoned Plate Group match of the Vijay Hazare Trophy One-Day cricket tournament in Dehradun on Saturday.

Rain played spoilsport in all the three Plate group matches scheduled here but there was some action in store at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium where Yashpal claimed 4/22, including two wickets of last two balls as Manipur innings lasted for 30.4 overs after they elected to bat.

The former Mumbai left-arm spinner, Abdulla was most impressive with his astonishing figures of 7-4-4-3.

Chasing 121, Sikkim got off to a disastrous start as they lost two wickets without scoring any run in the first over but the weather God came to their rescue as no game was possible after the first over with both teams settling for two points apiece.

Brief scores:

At Abhimanyu Cricket Academy: Uttarakhand 172 in 46.4 overs (D K Sharma 76; Sagar Trivedi 6/50) vs Puducherry. Match abandoned.

Points: Uttarakhand 2, Puducherry 2.

At Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium: Manipur: 120 in 30.4 overs (Yashpal Singh 4/22, Iqbal Abdulla 3/4). Sikkim 0/2; 1 over. Match abandoned.

Points: Manipur 2, Sikkim 2.

At Tanush Cricket Academy: Meghalaya vs Arunachal Pradesh. Match abandoned.

Points: Meghalaya 2, Arunachal Pradesh 2.

(Reports compiled from PTI)