A summary of Thursday's matches in the Vijay Hazare Trophy limited-overs' tournament.
Run-machine Ruturaj Gaikwad scored a second successive hundred in as many days to lead Maharashtra to a thumping eight-wicket victory over Chhattisgarh in a Group D match of the Vijay Hazare Trophy, in Rajkot, on Thursday.
The Maharashtra skipper left the job unfinished on Wednesday, getting out for 136 in their high-scoring chase against Madhya Pradesh, but this time he paced his innings beautifully on the way to an unbeaten 143-ball 154 to hunt down 277 with three overs to spare.
The 24-year-old smashed 5 sixes and 14 boundaries and was in total control of the chase, making him a strong prospect for a debut call-up in the upcoming ODI series in South Africa.
Gaikwad also got some support from his opening partner, Yash Nahar (52), as the duo laid the foundation with a 120-run opening stand before Naushad Shaikh (37) extended a crucial 94-run mid innings stand.
Gaikwad and Naushad dissected the field with ease and never allowed the Chhattisgarh bowlers to settle down as in no time they brilliantly accelerated their chase.
Chhattisgarh leg-spinner Shubham Agarwal bore the brunt of Gaikwad's fury, conceding 54 runs from his six overs.
Gaikwad stepped out to Agarwal over long-on to notch his second successive hundred off 105 balls and sealed the chase with another six against the same bowler en route to surpassing the 150-mark.
In the form of his life, Gaikwad was the top run-getter in IPL 2021, scoring 635 runs, inclusive of four fifties and a century, and was instrumental in Chennai Super Kings's fourth triumph.
He also surpassed K L Rahul's tally of 626 runs to become the youngest batter to clinch the Orange Cap. He continued his sizzling form into the recently-concluded Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, scoring three successive half-centuries.
He, however, missed the knockout leg of the domestic T20s after being named in India's T20I squad against New Zealand, where he did not get to play a single game.
Earlier, on a placid SCA Stadium pitch, Chhattisgarh were restricted to a below-par 275/7 after Gaikwad opted to field.
In another match, Venkatesh Iyer, who made his T20I debut in the recent home series versus New Zealand, showed his all-round skills to script Madhya Pradesh's facile 40-run win over Kerala.
Batting at No 4, Venkatesh first smashed an 84-ball 112 (7x4, 4x6) and was involved in an entertaining 169-run partnership with Shubham Sharma (82 from 67 balls; 9x4, 1x6) as MP scored 329/9 after they were put in by Kerala skipper Sanju Samson.
In reply, Kerala were bowled out for 289 in 49.4 overs, Venkatesh bagging 3/55, while Puneet Datey claimed 4/59.
Brief scores:
Chhattisgarh 275/7; 50 overs (Amandeep Khare 82, Shashank Singh 63; Mukesh Choudhary 4/67) lost to Maharashtra 276/2; 47 overs (Ruturaj Gaikwad 154 not out, Yash Nahar 52, Naushad Shaikh 37, Rahul Tripathi 23 not out) by eight wickets.
Madhya Pradesh 329/9 in 50 overs (Venkatesh Iyer 112, Shubham Sharma 82, Rajat Patidar 49, Abhishek Bhandari 49) beat Kerala 289; 49.4 overs (Rohan Kunnummal 66, Sachin Baby 66; Puneet Datey 4/59, Venkatesh 3/55) by 40 runs.
Chandigarh 269/9 in 50 overs (Sarul Kanwar 97, Ankit Kaushik 55, Arjit Pannu 46; Agrim Tiwari 3/51) lost to Uttarakhand 270/7 in 49.2 overs (Jay Bista 68, Kamal Singh 59; Yuvraj Chaudhary 3/48) by three wickets.
Tamil Nadu too good for Karnataka
Thiruvananthapuram: Left-arm spinners M Siddharth and R Sai Kishore came up with impressive performances as Tamil Nadu outplayed arch-rivals Karnataka by eight wickets in an Elite Group 'B' match of the Vijay Hazare Trophy, in Thiruvananthapuram.
Skipper Manish Pandey's decision to bat first backfired, as Siddharth (4/23) and Sai Kishore (3/28) spun a web around the Karnataka batters to bundle them out for 122 in 36.3 overs.
Save Pandey (40) and Rohan Kadam (37), none of the other Karnataka batters could make a significant contribution.
Tamil Nadu then rode on B Indrajith's unbeaten half-century to overhaul the target in 28 overs.
The slide began in the opening over when Sandeep Warrier had Ravikumar Samarth caught behind by Dinesh Karthik for a duck off in the second delivery.
Only a 67-run partnership for the third wicket between Kadam (69 balls, 1 four) and Pandey (54 balls, 3 fours) helped them save the blushes as none of the other batters reached double figures.
Kadam's innings was ended by M S Washington Sundar (1/27), who castled him.
Siddharth then struck a crucial blow for Tamil Nadu bowling out Pandey in the 26th over.
It was a procession from thereon as Siddharth and Sai Kishore ran through the rest of the batting.
In reply, TN openers B Sai Sudharsan (18) and captain N Jagadeesan (16) began by hitting a few boundaries before the latter was bowled by Vidhyadhar Patil (1/22).
Sai Sudharsan and Indrajith (51, 74 balls, 6 fours) added 32 runs for the second wicket before the former was dismissed by J Suchith (1/24).
Indrajith and Washington Sundar (31 not out, 33 balls, 3 fours) made sure that there was no further trouble as they closed out the chase in the 28th over.
It was the second occasion in recent times that Tamil Nadu put it across Karnataka after having nailed a thrilling final in the Mushtaq Ali Trophy.
In other matches of the group, which were affected by rain, Mumbai got past Baroda, while Pondicherry pulled off a surprise win over the fancied Bengal -- both via the VJD method used in domestic matches.
Brief scores:
Karnataka 122 all out in 36.3 overs (Manish Pandey 40, Rohan Kadam 37, M Siddharth 4/23, R Sai Kishore 3/28) lost to Tamil Nadu 123 for 2 in 28 overs (B Indrajith 51 not out, M S Washington Sundar 31 not out) by eight wickets.
Tamil Nadu 4 points, Karnataka: 0.
Baroda 210 all out in 49.1 overs (Vishnu Solanki 94 (100 balls, 11x4, 2x6), Atit Sheth 24, Tanush Kotian 3/44, P H Solanki 3/61) lost to Mumbai 100 for 3 in 23 overs (Yashasvi Jaiswal 41 not out).
Mumbai won by 13 runs (VJD method) after rain stopped play.
Mumbai 4 points, Baroda 0.
Bengal 264 for 8 in 50 overs (Shahbaz Ahmed 85 not out (60 balls, 8X4, 4X6), Shreevats Goswami 45, Ritwik Roy Chowdhury 32, Subodh Bhati 3/70) lost to Pondicherry 132 for 2 in 30 overs (Pavan Deshpande 62 not out, Paras Dogra 41 not out).
Pondicherry won by 8 runs (VJD method) after rain stopped play.
Pondicherry 4 points, Bengal 0.
Atharva's unbeaten 164 blows Andhra away
Mumbai: Opener Atharva Taide smashed a scintillating 123-ball 164 as Vidarbha scripted a successful chase for a thrilling two-wicket win over Andhra Pradesh in a Group A match in Mumbai.
Opting to bowl, Vidarbha restricted Andhra to 287 for 8 and then returned to overhaul the target in just 41.4 overs.
Atharva made a mockery of the chase as he blasted 15 boundaries and five sixes during his whirlwind unbeaten knock.
The 21-year-old was ably supported by Ganesh Satish (43) and Yash Rathod (44 not out), who also took three wickets in the match.
For Andhra, C R Gnaneshwar (93) was the top-scorer, while Ambati Rayudu (53) and Pinninti Tapaswi (45) also chipped in with useful contributions.
Earlier, Thakur (3/74) and Aditya Sarwate (3/45) picked three wickets each, while Aditya Thakare took two to restrict Andhra to a competitive score.
For Andhra, Cheepurapalli Stephen (1/46) and Harishankar Reddy (1/23) took a wicket each but it wasn't enough to stop a marauding Atharva, who made it a one-sided contest with his power-hitting.
In other matches, Himachal Pradesh dished out an all-round show to register a 63-run win over Jammu and Kashmir, at the Dadoji Konddev stadium, while Odisha eked out a three-wicket win over Gujarat, at the Bandra Kurla Complex.
Brief scores:
Andhra Pradesh 287 for 8 in 50 overs (CR Gnaneshwar 93; A Sarwate 3/45) lose to Vidarbha 288 for 2 in 41.4 overs (A Taide 164 not out; H Reddy 1/23).
Himachal Pradesh 250 for 8 in 50 overs (A Vasisht 51, A Kumar 49, Rishi Dhawan 44; Rasool 3/37) beat JK 187 all out in 42.3 overs (Ian Dev Singh 36; R Dhawan 3/44).
Gujarat 224 for 9 in 50 overs (Kathan Patel 130 not out; Rajesh Mohanty 2/32) lose to Odisha 225 for 7 in 49.5 overs (Abhishek Raut 60 not out; Siddharth Desai 3/30).
Tomar, Sharma shine as Rajasthan trounce Goa
Ranchi: Rajasthan crushed Goa by 84 runs to secure their second successive victory and lead Group E.
First it was their in-form opener Abhijeet Tomar who set it up, top-scoring with 92, as Rajasthan put up a challenging 257 for 8 after Goa elected to field.
Then Rajasthan left-arm spinner Shubham Sharma floored the Goa batters, picking 5 for 12 as they were bowled out for 173 in 42.3 overs.
Tomar, who scored an unbeaten 104 in their win over Punjab on Wednesday, carried on from where he left despite wickets falling at the other end.
He hit four sixes and five boundaries and looked set for a second successive century before falling short by eight runs in the 46th over.
Ravi Bishnoi propped the total at the death with two sixes in his 10-ball 20 not out.
Goa's chase went terribly wrong as Shubham bowled with utmost guile and precision. Sharma was ably supported by Ravi Bishnoi (2/47) and Aniket Choudhary 3/28.
Brief scores:
Rajasthan 257/8; 50 overs (Abhijeet Tomar 92, Samarpit Joshi 40; Felix Almeo 2/39, Darshan Misal 2/44, Lakshay Garg 2/51) beat Goa 173; 42.3 overs (Aditya Kaushik 53; Shubham Sharma 5/12, Aniket Choudhary 3/28, Ravi Bishnoi 2/47) by 84 runs.
Railways 250; 48.3 overs (Mohammad Saif 60, Mrunal Devdhar 45; Mayank Markande 4/40, Sanvir Singh 3/32) lost to Punjab 252/7; 49 overs (Gurkeerat Singh Mann 81, Anmolpreet Singh 54, Sanvir Singh 46; Dhrushant Soni 3/58, Amit Mishra 2/34) by three wickets.
Assam 206; 49.5 overs (Riyan Parag 58, Kunal Saikia 40; Varun Choudhary 3/44, Trivendra Kumar 3/58, Diwesh Pathania 2/30, Rahul Singh 2/30) lost to Services 210/6; 45.3 overs (Ravi Chauhan 47; Swarup Purkayastha 2/27) by four wickets.
Tilak Verma stars in Hyderabad's big win over Delhi
Mohali: Top-order batter D T Tilak Verma smashed 139 off 123 balls, inclusive of eight huge sixes, as Hyderabad gave Delhi a sound thrashing by 79 runs in a Group C game.
Verma's innings, which also had seven boundaries, and his 152-run stand for the fourth wicket with Chandan Sahani (87 off 74 balls) took Hyderabad to 325/6 in 50 overs.
Delhi’s batters never got the momentum and they were restricted to 246 for 9, none of them able to post even 50.
Himmat Singh scored 47 and ‘keeper Anuj Rawat contributed 36.
Left-arm spinner Tanay Thyagarajan took 3 for 33 and was the most successful bowler for Hyderabad.
In another match of the same group, Jharkhand wicketkeeper Nazim Siddiqui's 116 off 102 balls overshadowed former KKR player Rinku Singh's unbeaten 104 off 98 balls as they beat Uttar Pradesh by eight wickets.
Batting first, UP scored 239 for 7 while Jharkhand crossed the target in 46.1 overs.
Siddiqui, after keeping wickets for 50 overs, opened the innings and hit 15 fours and four sixes.
In the other match of the group, left-arm spinner Dharmendra Jadeja grabbed four as Saurashtra beat Haryana by five wickets in a low scoring encounter.
Brief scores:
Hyderabad 325/6 in 50 overs (DT Tilak Verma 139 off 123 balls, Chandan Sahani 87) beat Delhi 246/9, by 79 runs (Himmat Singh 47, Anuj Rawat 36, Tanay Thyagrajan 3/33).
Uttar Pradesh 239/7 in 50 overs (Rinku Singh 104 off 98 balls) lost to Jharkhand 242/2 in 46.1 overs, by 8 wickets. (Nazim Siddiqui 116 off 102 balls).
Haryana 127 in 38. 4 overs (Chaitanya Bishnoi 41, Yuzvendra Chahal 11) beat Saurashtra 131/5 in 27.1 overs, by five wickets. (Arpit Vasavada 38, Yuzvendra Chahal 2/31 in 8.1 overs).
