Vijay Hazare Trophy wrap: Karnataka see off Andra Pradesh, Gujarat continue impressive run

Karnataka dished out a clinical show as they beat Andhra Pradesh by 53 runs in their Elite Group A match of the Vijay Hazare Trophy at Bengaluru on Monday.

Put into bat at the Alur cricket stadium in the 50-over tournament, Karnataka posted a respectable 278/7 on the board, riding on useful contributions from their frontline batsmen.

Later, their leggie Shreyas Gopal (4-48) spun a web around Andhra batsmen as the visitors folded up at 225, handing the hosts a comfortable 53-run victory.

Karnataka openers K L Rahul (33) and Devdutt Padikkal (44) gave their side a brisk start, putting up 68 runs for the opening wicket.

One down Karun Nair (24) could not convert his start, but then it was skipper Manish Pandey, who rallied the innings after both Padikkal and Nair fell in quick succession.

Pandey (50) made a patient half-century in 56 balls, with a lone four and a six to his credit. It was then a quickfire, unbeaten 45 from 38 balls by their wicket-keeper B S Sharath and a blazing 34 off 16 balls by K Gowtham that ensured that they went past the 275-run mark. The duo put up a crucial 60-run stand for the seventh wicket.

The chase was horrendous for Andhra as opener Ashwin Hebber was cleaned up by pacer M Prasidh Krishna (3-40) for a duck.

Then opener and wicket-keeper KS Bharat (38), who is eyeing a spot in the national team, and one-down D B Prashanth Kumar (78 off 104 balls) added 70 runs for the second wicket.

However, Bharat was trapped in the front by K Gowtham and from there on the Andhra collapse began.

No batsman except Prashant Kumar showed a fight as the others meekly surrendered to spinner Gopal. Eventually, Andhra innings folded up in 46.5 overs at 225.

After the win, Karnataka are topping the Elite Group A and B with 16 points, while Punjab (from B) stand second in the combined points table. Defending champions Mumbai are on the 12th spot and their chances of making to the play-offs appear bleak.

Meanwhile, Hyderabad defeated Goa by five wickets in another Elite Group A match, while Chhattisgarh, riding on slow left-arm orthodox bowler Sumit Ruikar’s five-wicket haul, trounced Saurashtra by 65 runs at the Alur cricket stadium 1 near here.

Brief scores: Karnataka 278/7 (Manish Pandey 50, B R Sharath 45 not out; Ashwin Hebber 2-27) beat Andhra 225 all out (D B Prashanth Kumar 78, K S Bharat 38; Shreyas Gopal 4- 48) by 53 runs. Karnataka 4 points, Andhra 0 points.

Goa 122 all out (Amogh Desai 55, Amit Verma 29; B Sandeep 4- 13, Mohammed Siraj 4-20) lost to Hyderabad 126/5 (Tanmay Agarwal 66 not out, J Mallikarjun 30; Heramb Parab 1- 21) by five wickets. Hyderabad 4 points, Goa 0 points.

Chhattisgarh 246/8 (Amandeep Khare 53, Shashank Chandrakar 53; K D Patel 3-47) beat Saurashtra 181 all out (Shedlon Jackson 75, Arpit Vasavada 36; Sumit Ruikar 5-32) by 65 runs. Chhattisgarh 4 points, Saurashtra 0 points.

Gujarat continue impressive run

Gujarat defeated Railways by 43 runs via the VJD method to notch up its sixth straight win in Group C in the Vijay Hazare Trophy cricket tournament here on Monday.

In the other games on a rain-hit day, Jammu & Kashmir beat Bihar by 65 runs (via the VJD method) while the match between Bengal and Madhya Pradesh was called off due to rain after 18 overs were bowled in Bengal’s innings.

Railways elected to bat against Gujarat and could only post 231 in 49.2 overs as it frittered away a good start provided by openers Mrunal Devhar (50, 76 balls, 4 fours, 1 six) and Pratham Singh (76, 78 balls, 9 fours, 2 sixes) as Gujarat bowlers-spinners Piyush Chawla (4/46) and Axar Patel (2/50) and left-arm medium-pacer Arzan Nagwaswalla (3/46) kept struck at regular intervals.

In reply, Parthiv Patel (59, 66 balls, 7 fours) and Priyank Panchal (51, 69 balls, 2 fours) rattled up 109 before the former fell.

Panchal and Dhrul Raval added 18 more runs before rain came down and ended hopes of further play, leaving Gujarat victors by 43 runs.

Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, with six straight wins and 24 points each, top Group ‘C’.

Brief scores: Madhya Pradesh 223 all out in 47.4 overs (Yash Dubey 106 (105 balls, 12 fours, 1 six, Naman Ojha 23, Manoj Tiwary 2/23) vs Bengal 83 for 2 in 18 overs (Shreevats Goswami 37 not out, Abhishek Kumar Raman 36).

No result.

MP: 2 points, Bengal: 2 points.

Railways 231 all out in 49.2 overs (Pratham Singh 76, Mrunal Devdhar 50, Vikrant Singh 39 not out, Piyush Chawla 4/46, A Nagwaswalla 3/46) lost to Gujarat 127 for 2 in 25.1 overs (Parthiv Patel 59, Priyank Panchal 51 not out) by 43 runs (VJD method).

Gujarat: 4 points, Railways: 0.

Jammu & Kashmir 326 for 6 in 50 overs (Shubham Khajuria 127 (121 balls, 4 fours, 7 sixes), Shubham Singh Pundir 87, Abdul Samad 50) beat Bihar 128 for 4 in 30.2 overs (Babul Kumar 41 not out, Parvez Rasool 3/22) by 65 runs (VJD method).

J&K: 4 points, Bihar: 0.

UP ease to victory

Captain Samarth Singh and Akshdeep Nath struck a half-century each to help Uttar Pradesh record an easy seven-wicket win over Baroda in an Elite Group B match of Vijay Hazare Trophy National One-Day tournament here on Monday.

Chasing 213 for a win, Samarth scored 62 from 79 balls at the top of the innings before Akshdeep took UP home with 2.2 overs to spare with an unbeaten 75 which he hit from 107 deliveries.

Samarth had five fours and a six in his innings while Akshdeep struck nine boundaries during his knock.

The duo stitched 81 runs together for the third wicket from 19.5 overs to take UP closer to victory. Akshdeep then shared 49 runs with Rinku Singh (23 not out from 38 balls) for the unconquered fourth wicket as UP reached 213/3 in 47.4 overs.

Earlier, electing to bat first, Baroda made 212 for 6 in their allotted 50 overs with one-down Vishnu Solanki and Yusuf Pathan contributing 58 and 55 runs respectively.

Baroda suffered a top-order collapse as they were reduced to 16 for 3 in the seventh over with pacer Ankit Rajpoot (3/43) claiming all the top three wickets.

Pathan and Solanki revived with the Baroda innings with a 91-run partnership for the fifth wicket to pave the way for their side go past 200-run mark.

In another match here, Himachal Pradesh beat Vidarbha by six wickets with 20 balls remaining with opener Prashant Chopra (82) scoring the bulk of the runs as his side successfully chased down the target of 184 in a 42-over-a-side match.

Odisha also emerged victorious in another Group B match here as they beat Maharashtra by three wickets.

Riding on an unbeaten 119 off 130 balls by captain Subhranshu Senapati, Odisha chased down the target of 260 with five balls to spare.

Brief Scores:

UP: 213/3 in 47.4 overs (Samarth Singh 62, Akshdeep Nath 75 not out) beat Baroda (Vishnu Solanki 58, Yusuf Pathan 55; Ankit Rajpoot 3/43) by 7 wickets.

Himachal Pradesh: 184/4 in 38.4 overs (Prashant Chopra 82; Yash Thakur 2/21) beat Vidarbha 183 all out (Ganesh Satish 67; Rishi Dhawan 4/35) by six wickets.

Odisha: 260/7 in 49.1 overs (Subhranshu Senapati 119 not out; Azim Kazi 2/45) beat Maharashtra: 259/8 in 50 overs (Rahul Tripathi 69, Kedar Jadhav 62; Suryakant Pradhan 3/50) by 3 wickets.