Indore (Madhya Pradesh): Rajat Patidar’s 102 and Mihir Hirwani's four-for set up Madhya Pradesh's convincing 98-run victory over Andhra in the Vijay Hazare trophy group ‘B’ match played at Emarlad Heights School ground on Friday.
In the point table, Jharkhand is the leader with 12 points, followed by Punjab, Andhra, Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh with eight points each. Vidarbha lies in the last place with 4 points.
Put in to bat first, MP openers gave their team solid start and by the end of 38 overs, MP were 211/1. Shubham fell short of his hundred but Patidar went on to complete his ton. However, a late collapse forced the MP team to score 316 for 8 they managed, though, the score proved enough to win the match against Andhra. The AP middle order showed some fight with Nitish Reddy scoring a half-century and Karan Shinde chipping in with an unbeaten 47, but they were not enough to reach the target. Hirwani, who picked up three wickets including that of Reddy and Ricky Bhui, finished with 4 for 50 as the Andhra side folded up for 218.
Brief scores: Madhya Pradesh 316/8 in 50 overs (Rajat Patidar 102, Shubham Sharma 78; KV Sasikanth 3-46, Girinath Reddy 2-60) beat Andra 218 all out in 42.3 overs (Nitish Reddy 59, Karan Shinde 47*; Mihir Hirwani 4-50) by 98 runs.
TN end Jharkhand's winning streak
At Daly College ground, Tamil Nadu ended Jharkhand's three-match winning streak with a convincing 67-run win. After winning the toss, Tamil Nadu posted a competitive 266 for 7, thanks to half-centuries from opener B Aparajith (57), J Kousik (55) and Shahrukh Khan (51) and some lusty hitting by R Sai Kishore (29 not out, 20 balls, 3X6) and M Mohammed (20, 9 balls, 3X6)..
Despite handy knocks by Virat Singh (49) and Sumit Kumar (40), Jharkhand lost wickets at regular intervals to slip to 145 for 9 as the TN bowlers kept a leash on the scoring.No.11 Rahul Shukla (42 not out, 25 balls, 3X4, 3X6) and Varun Aaron (18 not out) delayed the inevitable and made sure the team wasn't all out.
Prabhsimran smashes 167 to star for Punjab
At Holkar Stadium, opener Prabhsimran Singh's stellar 167 took Punjab to the second spot in the points table. Prabhsimran's knock helped chase down Vidarbha's 290/9 with four wickets and more than two overs to spare. Prabhsimran singlehandedly led the chase, hitting nine sixes and 13 more boundaries in his 140-ball stay to maul the Vidarbha bowling attack. The regular fall of wickets at the other end failed to deter him as he put Punjab on the brink of the victory with his stunning assault before departing when Punjab were just six runs away.
Group C: Karnataka v Kerala
Devdutt Padikkal extended his fine run of form by slamming a second century on the bounce as Karnataka downed in-form Kerala to climb to the top of the Group C standings. Padikkal's steady 126 featured a 99-run opening stand with Ravikumar Samarth (62) and and unbeaten 180-run association with K. Siddharth (86*) as Karnataka chased down a strong total of 277 with 27 balls and nine wickets to spare.
The defeat will sting Kerala, who were top of the table going into the final two group games with progression guaranteed for group winners. They put up a fighting total despite losing man-in-form Robin Uthappa for a first-ball duck and Sanju Samson for a low score. Veteran Abhimanyu Mithun grabbed a five for for the defending champions even as Vathsal Govind scored 95 while Sachin Baby and Mohammed Azharuddeen added brisk half-centuries to give Kerala a fighting total. Their bowlers, however, endured a forgettable day and were powerless in the face of Padikkal and Co.
Brief scores: Kerala 277/8 in 50 overs (Vathsal Govind 95, Md. Azharuddeen 59, Sachin Baby 54; Abhimanyu Mithun 5-52) lost to Karnataka 279/1 in 45.3 overs (Devdutt Padikkal 126*, K. Siddharth 86*) by nine wickets.
