Vijay Hazare Trophy 2019 | Elite Group A finally kicks off on another rain-marred day
Six teams kickstarted their campaign in the domestic tournament after two days of washouts as all the three matches managed to produce a result despite the length of two of them having to be curtailed. Saurashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh walked out as winners after some close battles.
After the first two days of Vijay Hazare Trophy’s Bangalore leg were washed out and all matches abandoned without a ball being bowled, Friday finally saw three games be able to reach a conclusion on what was for the most part a low-scoring day.Â
The first match of the day between Goa and Andhra Pradesh at the KSCA Stadium in Alur had to be delayed due to a wet outfield after constant downpour before the game. The match was ultimately reduced to 21 overs per side. Sent into bat after losing the toss, Goa got off to a disastrous start losing four of its wickets for just 17 runs. A couple of cameos in the middle-order helped them post a defendable target of 108, as Prithvi Raj took a five-for. However, Andhra made light work off it as Prasanth Kumar led the way with his 46 off 44 balls to chase down the score with four balls and seven wickets in hand.
In the match between Jharkhand and karnataka, the former won the toss to bat first and made the most of its decision. Three players struck half-centuries to post a commanding total of 285/9, even though Rahul Shukla and Anand Singh came away with four wickets each. With skipper Ishan Kishan departing for a lowly 11, Karnataka never really looked into the game as wickets kept falling at regular intervals, Krishnappa Gowtham was the pick of the bowlers as his five-wicket haul cleaned out the opposition for 162, earning his team a huge 123-run victory.
The final match of the day in the JCA Ground, Bangalore was also delayed due to wet outfield, with this time the number of overs set at 34. Electing to field in what would turn out to be a thriller, Saurashtra’s bowlers struggled to find a breakthrough as the Kerala openers rushed to 88 in 11 overs. However there on, no batsman could find his footing in the inning as they tumbled to 186/9 at the end of their designated 34 overs. Chasing a respectable score on a bowler-friendly pitch, Saurashtra slumped to 25-3 before keeper Harvik Desai stepped in with an almost run-a-ball 31. However, even when he fell, Arpit Vasavada took over, lacing his unbeaten 92 off 85 with seven boundaries and a couple of sixes even as wickets kept falling on the other end to reach the target with just three wickets and a couple of balls to spare.
