Report

Vihari seals tense two-wicket win for Andhra

A round-up of the Group C matches of the Vijay Hazare trophy held on February 26, 2017

File photo - Hanuma Vihari fought nerves to deliver a win for his team in a low-scoring thriller  •  ICC/Getty

File photo - Hanuma Vihari fought nerves to deliver a win for his team in a low-scoring thriller  •  ICC/Getty

At Chepauk, Andhra captain Hanuma Vihari struck an unbeaten 58 to take his team to a tense two-wicket win in a chase of 128 against Madhya Pradesh. Four of Andhra's top-five batsmen, Vihari excepted, were dismissed for single-digit scores. Vihari then steadied them from 26 for 4 with a 38-run stand with Dasari Chaitanya (19). Duvavarapu Siva Kumar and Dasari Swaroop Kumar made identical contributions of 16 each to take Andhra closer to the target, but it was Vihari who stayed till the end, having ground it out for 112 balls. Ishwar Pandey led the wicket charts for MP with 3 for 31.
Siva Kumar and Swaroop Kumar also came good with the ball after Andhra opted to put MP in. Siva Kumar took 3 for 17 in nine overs, while Swaroop Kumar took 2 for 27 in five overs. Bandaru Ayyappa and Bhargav Bhatt took the other five wickets between them as MP were bowled out for 127. Saransh Jain top-scored for MP with 56.
Rujul Bhatt's maiden List A five-wicket haul helped Gujarat bowl out Goa for 199 and defeat them by 78 runs. Bhatt broke an important partnership of 119 for the fourth wicket between Amogh Desai (61) and Snehal Kauthankar (64) in Goa's chase of 278. Kauthankar was sent back next over, and from there, Goa never recovered. Gujarat's new-ball pair of Ishwar Chaudhary (3-34) and Jasprit Bumrah(2-34) took the other five wickets.
Gujarat's total of 277 for 9 was set up by their openers Parthiv Patel and Priyank Panchal. Patel top-scored with 89, while Panchal's golden domestic season translated into yet another half-century. The duo put on 118 before Panchal was caught behind off legspinner Ganeshraj Narvekar for 57. Manprit Juneja struck 39 at No. 4, even as a procession of wickets reduced Gujarat from 154 for 1 to 182 for 6. Bumrah then scored an unbeaten 42 off 24 balls with the help of four fours and three sixes to lead a late revival.
Mumbai showed their all-round dominance over Rajasthan with a five-wicket win. After opting to put the opposition in, Mumbai restricted Rajasthan to 181 for 9 in a match reduced to 38 overs per side. Mahipal Lomor top-scored for Rajasthan with 49 and Salman Khan made 37, but the rest either did not get off to starts or failed to convert them. Mumbai's bowlers shared the wickets around, but Shardul Thakur topped the wickets column with 3 for 47 in eight overs, while his new-ball partner Shivam Malhotra also shone with 2 for 19 in eight overs.
Mumbai's top and middle order came good in the chase. Akhil Herwadkar scored 50 and shared a second-wicket stand of 67 with Shreyas Iyer (41 off 32), before Aditya Tare, the captain and wicketkeeper, struck an unbeaten 36 to close out he game at the start of the 30th over. Offspinner Tajinder Singh took three wickets for Rajasthan, but was expensive, leaking 45 runs.