Vijay Hazare Trophy | Parthiv helps Gujarat go top, Bengal and Jammu and Kashmir pick up wins
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Jammu and Kashmir and Madhya Pradesh played out a nail-biting encounter where J & K came out on top, while Gujarat also fought hard to defeat Services and clinch the top spot in the group. In the meantime, Bengal notched up a thumping win over Bihar to strengthen its grasp on the third position.
Gujarat stole a close win against Services to clinch top spot in the group with 28 points, inching above Tamil Nadu. Meanwhile, Bengal cruised to a victory in emphatic fashion to consolidate the third position in the group with 22 points from 8 matches. On the other hand, Jammu and Kashmir earned a hard-fought win over Madhya Pradesh to take their tally to 16 points from 8 matches.Â
Bengal 217-1 (40.2) beats Bihar 216-7 by 9 wickets
Bihar skipper Ashutosh Aman called it right for his team at the toss and chose to bat first. But his openers failed miserably as Bihar was reduced to 6 for 2 when MD Rahmatullah (53) and Babul Kumar (93), who missed a well-deserved century, stabilised the innings by stitching a 102-run partnership. Helped on by skipper Ashutosh Aman’s cameo of 22, Bihar made it to a fighting total of 216. Akash Deep and Sayan Ghosh were the Stars for Bengal with the ball having bagged 3 and 2 wickets respectively. In reply, Bengal lost only a single wicket as they cruised to victory courtesy an unbeaten ton from skipper Abhimanyu Easwaran (112) who was ably supported by Abhishek Raman (61) who brought up a half-century. While all Bihar bowlers struggled to make a mark, only Shashi Shekar made it to wicket’s column, prizing the lone wicket of Bengal opener Shreevats Goswami (23), who was looking in fabulous touch.Â
Gujarat 279-9 beats Services 265-8 by 14 runs
Having put to bat first by Services, Gujarat had an awful start losing opener Priyank Panchal (1) when the team’s score was only 7. While the experienced campaigner, skipper Parthiv Patel (99) held on to one end, wickets kept tumbling at the other. The only notable partnership was between Parthiv and Manprit Juneja (46), who put up a stand of 91 before Juneja perished. While Parthiv fell one short of his ton, young Axar Patel’s cameo of 47 made sure Gujarat posted a defendable total of 279. With the ball, Diwesh Pathania, Varun Choudhary and Pulkit Narang all bagged three wickets each but couldn’t stop the run flow. Chasing a big total, Services had a great start with both the openers Nakul Verma (82) and Ravi Chauhan (61) both posting half-centuries to put up an opening stand of 123. But after that everything fell apart for Services as Gujarat picked up wickets at regular intervals. Although Mohit Ahlawat (41) showed some defiance it wasn’t enough as Services fell 14 runs short of the target. Experienced campaigners Piyush Chawla and Axar Patel led the bowling attack for Gujarat, picking up 2 wickets each while all other bowlers bagged a wicket each.Â
Jammu Kashmir 182-10 beats Madhya Pradesh 178-10 by 4 runs
It was a nail bitter at Jaipur as J and K crept over line with a 4-run victory. Madhya Pradesh won the toss and elected to field first. MP had a great start removing Jammu opener Abdul Samad (6) cheaply. J and K weren't able to build partnerships in the middle as they were buckled up for a timid total of 182. Jatin Wadhwan (43) top-scored for the team while Aquib Nabi (33) and Waseem Raza (28*) made notable contributions. Gaurav Yadav bagged 6 wickets breaking the spine of the Jammu batting while conceding only 40 at an economy of almost 4. Chasing a seemingly easy total, Madhya Pradesh also had a devastating start losing both openers at the score of 8. Although Anand Bais (52) did put up a brave fight assisted by Abhishek Bhandari (29), Venkatesh Iyer (29) and Avesh Khan (28), they fell 4 runs short of the total. Skipper Parvez Rasool, who isn’t having a great tournament with the bat, and Umar Nazir, starred with the ball grabbing three wickets each to set up a nail-biting win for Jammu and Kashmir.Â
