Vijay Hazare Trophy 2019 | Bowlers star but all Group B matches washed out once again
All Group B matches, scheduled in Dehradun, were washed out due to rain in Round 4 on Saturday. While the clash between Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh was abandoned without a coin toss, the other two matches — Puducherry vs Uttarakhand and Manipur vs Sikkim — completed at least one innings.
We are yet to have a completed cricket match in the Elite Group B of the 18th season of the Vijay Hazare one-day tournament. On Saturday as well, all six teams were forced to share two points each by the rain gods. However, we did see some action — particularly with the ball at the Abhimanyu Cricket Academy and the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Dehradun.Â
In the Puducherry-Uttarakhand match, the side from the south won the toss and opted to bowl first. And courtesy of a six-fer from left-arm medium-pacer Sagar Trivedi, they bowled out their opposition for 172. The only significant contributions with the bat for Uttarakhand came from Avneesh Sudha — who made a patient 37 — and bowling all-rounder Dhanraj Sharma — who blasted 76 off just 48 balls.
At the international stadium, it was the Sikkim duo of Iqbal Abdulla and Yashpal Singh who wreaked havoc in the Manipur innings. Winning the toss and electing to bat, Manipur were blown away for 120 inside 31 overs courtesy of Abdulla’s three for four and Yashpal’s four for 22. In reply, Sikkim was zero for two when the showers returned to have the final say.
