Vijay Hazare Trophy 2017, quarter-finals Day 2 round-up: Bengal and Jharkhand enter semis

The second leg of quarter-finals of the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2017 was played today. Two games with four of the most consistent sides in the competition so far locked horns on Day 2 of the QFs. MS Dhoni-led Jharkhand cruised to a 6-wicket victory as they tamed Vidarbha. While Kedar Jadhav-led Maharashtra were silenced by Manoj Tiwary’s Bengal.

The first encounter was a rather one-sided one as Jharkhand did not allow Vidarbha to enter in the contest. Vidarbha won the toss and chose to bat on what looked like a slow wicket. They were not helped by the batters as no one of them could apply themselves. Credit should be given to the Jharkhand bowlers, they were disciplined and did not give away any freebies to the batsmen. Ravi Jingid scored a patient 68 as he was the top scorer of Vidarbha. None of the other batsmen were resilient enough to take the Nagpur-based team to a commendable score.

Jharkhand bowlers were on point with everyone one of them contributing to the team’s effort. Monu Kumar grabbed a couple as Shahbaz Nadeem, Varun Aaron, Rahul Shukla and Kaushal Singh all managed to snatch one wicket each. Faiz Fazal’s team was restricted to 159 in their 50 overs. Jharkhand openers put up a good 68-run partnership. The foundation was laid by the openers and the middle order did the job. Jharkhand won by 6 wickets as Ishank Jaggi and MS Dhoni finished the match off.

The second encounter was a closely contested one. Maharashtra were the table toppers of their group and entered the tie as favorites. Kedar Jadhav won the toss and chose to bat first. The western team got off to a shaky start as they lost Ankit Bawne on the score of 47. Ruturaj Gaikwad and the captain Jadhav scored 43 and 44 respectively but it was the Pune-lad Rahul Tripathi who played the best innings. He smashed a 95 of just 74 deliveries hitting 9 classy boundaries and 4 massive sixes. The wicketkeeper Nikhil Naik also scored a mentionable 63 of just 52 deliveries.

This helped Maharashtra score 319 in their 50 overs. Bengal chasing this stern target were in control throughout their innings as the opener Shreevats Goswami hit 74 of 88 deliveries. The match was won by the partnership of Anustup Mujumdar and Kanishk Seth. They stitched an 117-run partnership at a very crucial time. Anustup and Kanishk both scored half centuries. Bengal then lost Mujumdar and had to scrape through to victory. They won the game of the penultimate delivery of the game. Bengal won the match by 4 wickets.

Brief Scores:

Quarter Final 1

Jharkhand vs Vidarbha – Jharkhand won by 6 wickets

Vidarbha – 159/9 50 overs (Jingid 68, Kumar 2/27, Nadeem 1/18)

Jharkhand – 165/4 45.5 overs (Jaggi 41, Kishan 35, Thakur 2/25)

Quarter Final 2

Maharashtra vs Bengal – Bengal won by 4 wickets

Maharashtra 319/6 50 overs (Tripathi 95, Naik 63, Ghosh 2/61)

Bengal 320/6 49.5 overs (Goswami 74, Mujumdar 66, Jadhav 2/30)