Arpit Vasavada hit a career-best unbeaten century before Parth Bhut shone with the ball as Saurashtra outclassed Gujarat by 107 runs in a Group A Vijay Hazare Trophy match in New Delhi on Thursday.
Saurashtra rode on Vasavada's 86-ball unbeaten 100, which was studded with nine boundaries and two sixes and Cheteshwar Pujara's 90-ball 56, to post 285 for eight after being sent into bat.
Right-arm pacer Chintan Gaja (3/51), Shen Patel (2/50) and Arzan Nagwaswalla (2/58) shone bright with the ball for Gujarat.
Defending, left-arm orthodox bowler Bhut picked up career-best figures of 4 for 57, while Jaydev Unadkat (2/16) and Dharmendrasinh Jadeja (2/30) shared four wickets between them to bundle out Gujarat for 178 in 41.4 overs.
Bhargav Merai (34) top-scored for Gujarat while wicket-keeper Het Patel (27), Chirag Gandhi (26) and Piyush Chawla (20) all got starts before throwing away their wickets.
Saurashtra are leading Group A with two wins from three matches, followed by Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Chandigarh, Hyderabad, Gujarat, Tripura and Manipur.
In another Group A match, Uttar Pradesh defeated Hyderabad by seven wickets, while Tripura beat Himachal Pradesh by 39 runs.
Elsewhere, Chandigarh beat Manipur by six wickets.
Brief Scores:
Saurashtra 285 for 8 in 50 overs (Arpit Vasavada 100 not out, Cheteshwar Pujara 56; Chintan Gaja 3/51) vs Gujarat 178 all out in 41.4 overs (Bhargav Merai 34; Parth Bhut 4/57).
Hyderabad 256 for 9 in 50 overs (Mickil Jaiswal 73, Rahul Buddhi 51; Shivam Mavi 3/52) vs Uttar Pradesh 262 for 3 in 48.4 overs (Aryan Juyal 100, Rinku Singh 78, Madhav Kaushik 70; Rohit Rayudu 3/29).
Tripura 261 for 8 in 50 overs (Manisankar Murasingh 69 not out; Digvijay Rangi 2/44) vs Himachal Pradesh 222 all out in 46.2 overs (Shubham Arora 62; Subham Ghosh 3/47).
Manipur 138 all out in 44 overs (Langlonyamba Meitan Keishangbam 38, Al Bashid Muhammed 38; Sandeep Sharma 5/18) vs Chandigarh 140 for 4 in 25.3 overs (Ankit Kaushik 45, Arslan Khan 39; Kangabam Singh 2/14).
Delhi done in by poor batting as Karnataka win by 4 wickets
Kolkata: A depleted Delhi, without the services of seasoned pros Shikhar Dhawan and Ishant Sharma, slumped to their second successive defeat, losing to Karnataka by four wickets in a low-scoring Group B match of the Vijay Hazare Trophy here on Thursday.
Batting first at the JU (Salt Lake) ground, Delhi were bundled out for 159 in 45.4 overs on a sluggish surface. Seamer Vasuki Koushik took 3 for 23 in 10 overs while leg-spinner Shreyas Gopal polished off the tail, finishing with figures of 3/25.
In reply, opener Ravikumar Samarth anchored the chase with 59 off 73 balls while veteran Manish Pandey chipped in with four sixes in his 37-ball-48 as Karnataka scored the runs inside 30 overs.
Delhi have now lost two out of their last four games having come out second best against Rajasthan in the previous game.
While Dhawan, who warmed up nicely for the New Zealand away ODI series with scores of 47 and 54 in the first two games, had to leave for national duty, Ishant was rested as a part of workload management.
Ishant is not playing back-to-back games as his body won't able to recover from rigours of 50-over games with a gap of a day.
The pitch at the JU (Salt Lake Ground) for past two decades has been traditionally low and slow and the Delhi batters did struggle with IPL specialists Nitish Rana (30 off 43 balls) and Lalit Yadav (59 off 100 balls) making some contributions, which was never going to be enough.
At one point, Delhi reduced to 66 for 6, were in danger of being bowled out for less than 100. But Lalit and Lakshay Thareja (15) added 44 runs for the seventh wicket to give the total some semblance of respectability.
Brief Scores:
Delhi 159 in 45.4 overs (Lalit Yadav 59, Nitish Rana 30, Vasuki Koushik 3/23, S Gopal 3/25) vs Karnataka 161/6 in 29.4 overs (Ravikumar Samarth 59, Manish Pandey 48, Mayank Yadav 4/47). Karnataka won by 4 wkts.
Rajasthan 270 in 49 overs (Yash Kothari 139, Rahul Shukla 5/53) vs Jharkhand 271/5 in 49 overs (Utkarsh Singh 91, Saurabh Tiwary 76). Jharkhand won by 5 wkts.
Assam 307/8 (Riyan Parag 128, Sumit Singh 2/64) vs Sikkim 127 in 36 overs (Sunil Lachit 3/33). Assam won by 180 runs.
Meghalaya 111 in 40 overs (Rajesh Bishnoi 53, Nachiket Bute 4/21) vs Vidarbha 113/1 in 27.1 overs (Aditya Sarwate 48). Vidarbha won by 9 wickets.
TN beat Goa, easy wins for Andhra, Kerala, Haryana
Bengaluru: Tamil Nadu defeated Goa by 57 runs in a Group C match of the Vijay Hazare Trophy here on Thursday.
Batting first, Tamil Nadu amassed 373 for 4 thanks to a blistering 168 by opener N Jagadeesan and a ton by B Sai Sudharsan (117). They restricted the opposition to 316 for 6 in 50 overs.
Jagadeesan, who brought up his third straight century in the tournament, looked on course for a double ton before falling to Suyash S Prabhudessai (2/87). He was involved in a massive 276-run partnership for the opening wicket with B Sai Sudharsan (117, 112 balls, 13 fours).
Jagadeesan smashed 15 fours and six sixes in his knock which put Tamil Nadu on track for a mammoth score.
Sudharsan, who has been in good form too, matched his opening partner stroke for stroke as the two went on the offensive from the start.
Though the rate of scoring slowed down after the exit of Sudharsan and Jagadeesan, Aparajith smashed three sixes in his 17-ball 31 to take TN to 373 for 4.
Goa put up a brave response through half centuries by Snehal Kauthankar (67), Siddhesh Lad (62 not out), Ishaan Gadekar (51) and Eknath (50).
Lad, who previously played for Mumbai, gave it his all. However, the huge target proved beyond Goa.
It was the third win for Tamil Nadu, the runners-up last season.
In other matches, Kerala beat Chhattisgarh by eight wickets and Andhra crushed Bihar by 132 runs riding on a superb 154 by Ashwin Hebbar and half-centuries from Hanuma Vihari and Ricky Bhui.
Meanwhile, Haryana routed Arunachal Pradesh by 306 runs with C K Bishnoi and Yuvraj Singh hammering tons.
Brief scores:
Tamil Nadu 373 for 4 in 50 overs (N Jagadeesan 168, B Sai Sudharsan 117, B Aparajith 31 not out, M Shahrukh Khan 29, Arjun Tendulkar 2/61) vs Goa 316 for 6 in 50 overs (Snehal Kauthankar 67, Siddhesh Lad 62 not out,Ishaan Gadekar 51, Eknath 50) by 57 runs. TN: 4 points, Goa: 0.
Chhattisgarh 171 all out in 48.1 overs (Ashutosh Singh 40, Ajay Mandal 30, Akhil Scaria 4/25, N Basil 3/40) lost to Kerala 175 for 2 in 36.1 overs (P Rahul 92 not out, Vatshal 35) by eight wickets. Kerala: 4 points, Chhattisgarh: 0.
Andhra 302 for 7 in 50 overs (Ashwin Hebbar 154, 141 balls, 10X4, 4X6), Hanuma Vihari 52, Ricky Bhui 52) beat Bihar 170 all out by 132 runs (Pratap 60, Sachin Kumar Singh 42, M Harishankar Reddy 3/21, B Ayyappa 2/19). Andhra: 4 points, Bihar: 0.
Haryana 397 for 8 in 50 overs (C K Bishnoi 134 (124 balls, 16X4, 1X6), Yuvraj Singh 131 (116 balls, 12X4, 3X6), Himanshu Rana 38, Nishant Sindhu 36, Niia 5/84) beat Arunachal Pradesh 91 all out (Rahul Tewatia 4/24, Mohit Sharma 2/7) by 306 runs. Haryana: 4 points, Arunachal: 0.
MP ride on Shubham ton, Kuldeep four-for to beat Uttarakhand by 10 runs
Madhya Pradesh rode on senior batter Shubham Sharma's century and Kuldeep Sen's four-wicket haul to beat Uttarakhand by 10 runs in a Vijay Hazare Trophy Group D match here on Thursday.
Batting first, MP scored 276/8 in 50 overs riding on Shubham Sharma's 100 off 110 balls with 10 fours and two sixes. He added 138 runs for the second wicket with opener Yash Dubey (72 off 80 balls) and 59 with skipper Aditya Shrivastava (53 off 55 balls) for the fourth wicket.
For Uttarakhand, left-arm spinner Swapnil Singh picked up 4 for 60.
In reply, Uttarakhand were restricted to 266 for nine in 50 overs with former Mumbai keeper Aditya Tare scoring a half-century (52) and Swapnil contributing 82.
Swapnil and Dikshanshu Negi (34) added 81 runs for the fifth wicket in just 16.1 overs. In the 45th over, Uttarakhand were 232 for four, needing just 43 runs in 33 balls when Mumbai Indians spinner Kumar Kartikeya had Negi holed out.
The lower middle-order then found Sen's pace too hot to handle as they eventually fell short. Sen finished with figures of 4 for 51 in 10 overs.
Brief Scores: MP 276/8 (Shubham Sharma 100, Yash Dubey 72, Aditya Shrivastava 53, Swapnil Singh 4/60). Uttarakhand 266/9 (Swapnil Singh 82, Aditya tare 52, Kuldeep Sen 4/51).
Jammu and Kashmir 227 in 47.4 overs (Shubham Khajuria 72, Shubham Pundir 58, Baltej Singh 3/23)
Punjab 231/2 in 28.4 overs (Abhishek Sharma 89, Anmolpreet Singh 101). Punjab won by 8 wickets.
Baroda 284/7 (Vishnu Solanki 69, Pratyush Kumar 69, Rajesh Mohanty 2/32).
Odisha 136 in 35.3 overs (Rajesh Dhuper 49, Lukman Meriwala 4/35).
Majumdar stars in Bengal's easy win over Pondicherry; Maharashtra beats Mumbai
Ranchi: Anustup Majumdar hit an unbeaten ton as Bengal romped to an eight-wicket win over Pondicherry in a Group E match of the Vijay Hazare Trophy here on Thursday.
Maharashtra, on the other hand, defeated Mumbai by 21 runs despite a fine knock of 142 by the highly rated Yashasvi Jaiswal.
In the Bengal-Pondicherry match, the former won the toss and elected to field. Bowlers Geet Puri (3/24) and Shahbaz Ahmed (3/25) did a fine job to help dismiss the opposition for 197 in 43.2 overs.
Right-handed batter Majumdar (100 not out, 106 balls, 14 fours, 1 six) was involved in a 117-run second wicket partnership with captain Abhimanyu Easwaran (56) to set up a solid platform.
He and the experienced Manoj Tiwary (32 not out) then saw the team home in the 40th over.
In the other match, Maharashtra had posted 342 for 2 on the back of 137-ball 156 by Rahul Tripathi (18 fours, 2 sixes) and Pavan Shah's 84.
It was Maharashtra's third straight win in the competition and takes the team to 12 points, the same as Railways which has played one game more.
In another match, Railways posted a big 103-run win over Services for their third victory.
Shivam Chaudhary with an innings of 125 (126 balls, 10 fours, 4 sixes) and Mohammad Saif (86) played key roles for the Railways.
Brief scores:
Railways 347 for 6 in 50 overs (Shivam Chaudhary 125 (126 balls, 10X4, 4X6), Mohammad Saif 84, Vivek Singh 48, Karn Sharma 40) beat Services 244 in 42.2 overs (Ravi Chauhan 65, Amit Pachhara 54, S G Rohilla 48, Rajat Paliwal 46) by 103 runs. Railways: 4 points, Services: 0.
Maharashtra 342 for 2 in 50 overs (Rahul Tripathi 156 (137 balls, 18X4, 2X6), Pavan Shah 84 (104 balls, 7X4, 2X6), Azim Kazi 50 not out) beat Mumbai 321 all out in 49 overs (Yashasvi Jaiswal 142 (135 balls, 14X4, 4X6), Armaan Jaffer 32, Prithvi Shaw 32, Satyajit Bachhav 6/46) by 21 runs. Maharashtra: 4 points, Mumbai: 0.
Pondicherry 197 all out in 43.2 overs (Paras Dogra 63, KB Arun Karthick 34, Shahbaz Ahmed 3/25, Geet Puri 3/4) lost to Bengal 202 for 2 in 39 overs (Anustup Majumdar 100 not out (106 balls, 14X4, 1X6), Sudip Kumar Gharami 56, Manoj Tiwary 32 not out) by eight wickets. Bengal: 4 points, Pondicherry: 0.
