Vijay Hazare Trophy 2019-20, Round 3: Round-up

Rains. More Rains. Wet-outfield. Overs-reduction. Pristine batting. Great bowling spells. One-sided games. Cliff-hangers. Washouts. It was another eventful day at the 2019-20 Vijay Hazare Trophy. While all the three games of the Elite Group B were washed out due to wet outfield, we saw some action in Group A where Karnataka and Andhra pulled off comprehensive victories while Saurashtra edge Kerela in a cliff-hanger in Bangalore.

Here’s our daily round-up of the 2019-20 Vijay Hazare Trophy:-

Round 03, Elite Group A

Inclement weather and subsequent rain continued to play spoilsport on the third day of the 2019-20 Vijay-Hazare Trophy, but luckily we got the results in all the three Round 03, Elite Group A encounters on Thursday. Following the abandonment of their opening fixture against Hyderabad, Karnataka retaliated with a comprehensive performance against Jharkhand at the Chinnaswamy stadium today, notching up a one-sided 123-run win.

The win was set-up by an all-round performance by the Karnataka top-order. Despite KL Rahul failing to convert his start [29], half-centuries from Devdatt Padikkal [58], skipper Manish Pandey [52] and Pavan Deshpande [70] propelled Karnataka to 9-285, which they defended with ease courtesy a five-wicket haul from Krishnappa Gowtham [5-43 from 7.5 overs].

If the first game in Bangalore was a damp squib, the other one at the Just Cricket Academy between Kerela and Saurashtra turned out to be nerve-jangler. In a game which was reduced to 34-over-per-side courtsey wet-outfield, Kerela got off to a sensational start.

The openers Vishnu Vinod [41] and Vinoop Manoharan [47] went hammer and tongs at the start, breezing to 88 runs off just 11.3 overs. But Jay Chouhan [1-29] and K Makvana [2-26] inflicted a collapse; one their middle-order couldn’t cope up with. Kerela eventually finished with 9-186 after 34 overs which was overhauled by Saurashtra in the very last over, courtsey an 85-ball-92 by Arpit Vasvada.

The third game of the Elite Group A was played in Alur, in what was another rain-affected, 21-over-per-side encounter, between Andhra and Goa. Batting first Goa’s top-order was reduced to tatters courtesy Yarra Prithviraj [5-21] and Girinath Reddy [2-11]. At 4-17, it looked like Goa was heading for real hiding. But handy contributions from their middle-order- spearheaded by AS Desai’s 23 and Aditya Kaushik’s 21- ensured they just about scraped past the 100-run mark. 

Goa got an early boost to their hopes of defending the 9-107 when they nipped both Andhra openers for 5 but their hopes were soon turned into smoke courtesy an unbeaten 57-run stand between Prasanth Kumar and Karan Shinde. Courtesy today’s win, each of Karnataka, Andhra and Saurashtra have moved towards the first half of the table with six points each.

Scores:

Karnataka vs Jharkhand

KAR: 285/9 in 50 overs (Pavan Deshpande 70, Devdutt Padikkal 58, Manish Pandey 52; Rahul Shukla 4-43, Anand Singh 4-52)

JHKD: 162/10 in 37.5 0vers (Saurabh Tiwary 43, Anand Singh 32; Krishnappa Gowtham 5-43, Shreyas Gopal 2-39)- Karnataka won by 123 runs

Kerela vs Saurashtra [Match reduced to 34-overs-per-side]

KER: 186/9 in 34.0 overs (Vishnu Vinod 41, Vinoop Manoharan 47; Chirag Jani 3-23)

SAUR:187/7 in 33.4 overs (Aarpit Vasavada 92*, Harvik Desai 31; Sandeep Warrier 2-31, Basil Thampi 2-45)- Saurashtra won by three wickets

Andhra vs Goa [Match reduced to 21-overs-per-side]

GOA: 107/9 in 21 overs (Amogh Sunil Desai 23, Aditya Kaushik 21, Yarra Prithviraj 5-21)

AP: 112/3 in 20.2 overs (Prashanth Kumar 46*, Karan Shinde 33*; Lakshay Garg 1-21, Heramb Parab 1-17) – Andhra won by seven wickets

Round 03, Elite Group B

Unlike the Elite Group A, we didn’t have that sort of luck as far as rain staying away from Group B fixtures on Thursday. Each of the three games- Maharashtra vs Uttar Pradesh, Pune vs Vidarbha, Odisha vs Haryana- were abandoned without toss thanks to the wet outfield of the Reliance Stadium in Vadodara. Therefore equal points were awarded to each team.

Scores:

Maharashtra vs Uttar Pradesh – Match abandoned without toss due to wet outfield.

Pune vs Vidarbha – Match abandoned without toss due to wet outfield.

Odisha vs Haryana – Match abandoned without toss due to wet outfield.