Vijay Hazare Trophy 2019 | Tamil Nadu continue winning streak, Bengal win in final over in Round 4

Vijay Hazare Trophy 2019 | Tamil Nadu continue winning streak, Bengal win in final over in Round 4

no photo

Tamil Nadu continued their winning start with a comfortable win over Bihar, while Gujarat beat Madhya Pradesh by 35 runs as both remain the only teams to have a perfect record in the tournament so far. Meanwhile, Bengal sealed their win two balls to spare against Services in Jaipur.

Tamil Nadu vs Bihar

As Group C matches continued to be unaffected by rain on Saturday, Tami Nadu strengthened their grip at the top of the table with a third successive win courtesy of an unbeaten 91 from Vijay Shankar. Bihar won the toss and elected to bat at the Jaipuria Vidyalaya Ground, but was pegged back immediately as they lost both openers by the end of the second over. Skipper Babul Kumar (110) then stitched together an 89 and 93-run partnerships with MD Rahmatullah (38) and Keshav Kumar (35) to take his team close to the 200-run mark. However, the economical spells from all the Tamil Nadu bowlers, particularly that of medium-pacer M Mohammed (three for 33), meant that Bihar could only muster 217 for seven from their quota of 50 overs. 

In reply, the Tamil Nadu openers N Jagadeesan and Abhinav Mukund put on 59 for the first wicket before a slight collapse saw them reduced to 75 for three in the 23rd over. But that was to be Bihar’s last hooray as Shankar and Baba Aparajith’s well-compiled half-centuries saw their side over the line with 19 balls to spare. With their seven-wicket win, Tamil Nadu now has 12 points from their first three games, and sit four points clear at the top of the Group C table.

Gujarat vs Madhya Pradesh

Elsewhere, Gujarat rode on the back of their skipper Parthiv Patel’s 90 and Bhargav Merai’s 69 to set MP a stiff target of 282 to win. Manpreet Juneja (38), Axar Patel (24), and Piyush Chawla (21) chipped in with the bat, while Ishwar Pandey and Gaurav Yadav shared seven wickets between conceding 46 runs each from their 10 overs. In reply, MP lost their skipper Naman Ojha cheaply, but a spirited 74-ball 71 from Rajat Patidar rekindled hopes. However, once he was removed by Axar in 35th over, the late resistance from Anand Bais (57) and Saransh Jain (33) only delayed the inevitable.

Bengal vs Services 

Meanwhile, Bengal got off the mark in the 18th season of the Vijay Hazare Trophy with a thrilling win over Services. After being put in to bat, all six of Services’ top-order batsman chipped in with double-digit scores, with opener Nakul Verma top-scoring with 52. However, it was the late blitz from the bat of Diwesh Pathania — who scored 34 runs from just 14 balls — that pushed their total beyond the 250-run mark. Set 277 to win, Bengal looked in control throughout the chase led by Abhishek Raman’s 106. Shreevats Goswami and Wriddhiman Saha chipped in with scores of 36 and 43 respectively. 

Get updates! Follow us on

Open all