Vijay Hazare Trophy Day 8 review

Today was the last day of the league stages of Vijay Hazare Trophy 2015. It was a day with a mixed bag of luck for the teams. The highlight of the day the Punjab v Services game where Yuvraj Singh stole the show with his brilliance as Punjab won the match by 3 wickets.

The teams which qualified for the knockout stages are Vidarbha, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Mumbai, Gujarat, Jharkhand Delhi, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab. The knockouts will be played on 23rd and 24th this month.

23/12/2015 – Himachal v Punjab and Jharkhand v Delhi

24/12/2015 – Tamil Nadu v Uttar Pradesh and Vidarbha v Gujarat

1. Gujarat floor Kerala

The combined efforts by the bowlers led by Axar Patel 3/16 helped Gujarat to skittle Kerala for an under par score of just 102 runs. Their captain Sachin Baby was the only performer for them. Gujarat faced no problem as they chased the target with seven wickets in their hands. R Bhatt top scored for Gujarat while off-spinner Fabid Ahmed was Kerala’s most successful bowler.

Brief scores:

Kerala 102 all out in 43.2 overs (Sachin Baby 42; Axar Patel 3/16) lost to Gujarat (R Bhatt 35; Fabid Ahmed 2/28) by seven wickets

2. Unmukt Chand leads the way for Delhi against Andhra 

Delhi, powered by Unmukt Chand’s 118*, chased an easy target of 184 runs set by Andhra. Andhra continued their dismal batting performance as they were bundled out for just 183 runs. Pawan Negi 3/29 was the star performer of the day for Delhi. Rest all bowlers also snapped one wicket each.

Brief scores:

Andhra 183 all out in 49.2 overs (Siva Kumar 38; Pawan Negi 3/29) lost to Delhi 184/1 in 34.1 (Unmukt Chand 118) by nine wickets

3. Railways beat Haryana comprehensively

Haryana batsmen went off track while chasing a relatively easier target of 220 set by Railways. Leg-spinner Karn Sharma (5/13) was the chief tormenter for Haryana. Early, Railways innings managed to reach 219/7 after the end of fifty overs with the help of Arindam Ghosh’s 76.

Brief scores:

Railways 219/7 in 50 overs (Arindam Ghosh 76; A H Hooda 2/28) beat Haryana 113 all out in 35.1 overs (RP Sharma 26; Karn Sharma 5/13) by 106 runs

4. Rajasthan brought to dust by Tamil Nadu

Rajasthan’s decision to bowl first after winning the toss went horribly strong as Dinesh Karthik 108 and Baba Aparajith 137 plundered the Rajasthan bowlers mercilessly to post 384/7 in 50 overs. Murali Vijay also hit a quickfire 74 off 44 balls. In reply, Rajasthan tried to be aggressive but struggled to even cross the 100-run mark and eventually were bowled out for 132 runs. Rahil Shah 6/37 was the star performer with the ball.

Brief score:

Tamil Nadu 384/7 in 50 overs (Baba Aparajith 137; Ul Haq 3/81) beat Rajasthan 132 all out in 26.2 overs (Rajat Bhatia 29; Rahil Shah 6/37) by 252 runs

5. Karnataka thrashes J&K by 207 runs

Karnataka thrashed J&K by 207 runs with the help of CM Gautham’s brilliant century. Karnataka were put to bat by J&K. The top order batted calmly but CM Gautham and Vinay Kumar in the lower middle slammed every bowler as Karnataka posted 349 runs. In reply, J&K’s Bandeep Singh scored 42 and Ian Chauhan who hit 35 tried to put in a fight but the team failed collectively and could only make 142 in the end.

Brief scores:

Karnataka 349/5 in 50 overs (CM Gautham 109; Zahoor Sofi 2/58) beat J&K 142 all out in 27.3 overs (Bandeep Singh 42; Suchith 3/26) by 207 runs

6. Mumbai overhaul Hyderabad challenge

Mumbai top order duo of Akhil Herwadkar (85) and Shreyas Iyer (84) overshadowed the brilliant effort of Hyderabad’s Hanuma Vihari (95) as Mumbai chased down the easy target of 218 set in front of them. Bowling wise, Shardul Thakur and Rohan Raje picked two wickets each while Abdullah and Kulkarni shared one wicket for Mumbai.

Brief scores:

Mumbai 221/8 in 50 overs (Akhil Herwadkar 85; Mehdi Hasan 1/36) beat Hyderabad 217/8 in 50 overs (Hanuma Vihari 95; Shardul Thakur 2/33) by seven wickets.

7. Tripura successfully defends a modest total

Tripura put in a good combined bowling effort to rattle Odisha for 169 runs and successfully defended the rather unchallenging total of 206. Parwinder Singh (65) was the top scorer for the victorious team while Deepak Behera’s (29 runs 2/26) all round performance was just not enough for Odisha.

Brief scores:

Tripura 206/9 in 49.2 overs (Parvinder Singh 65; Deepak Behera 2/26) beat Odisha (Deepak Behera 29; C K Paul 3/34) by 37 runs

8. Saurashtra breeze past Bengal

Samarth Vyas’s 94 and fifties from Sheldon Jackson and Cheteshwar Pujara helped Saurashtra overhaul the target of 244 runs set by Bengal. Earlier Bengal won the toss and put on 243 riding on the collective efforts of the top order batsman. Despite getting starts, none of the Bengal batsmen could reach half-centuries.

Brief scores:

Bengal 243/5 in 50 overs (A R Eswaran 48; DA Jadeja 3/46) lost to Saurashtra 246/4 in 46 overs (Samarth Vyas 95; Aamir Gani 1/40) by 6 wickets.

9. Himachal Pradesh registers a dominating win over Madhya Pradesh

It was a display of dominating cricket by Himachal Pradesh today against Madhya Pradesh. Rishi Dhawan (117) and Robin Bist (84) played with command as HP gave a target of 296 runs for Madhya Pradesh to chase. In reply, MP batsmen failed to get going after getting starts as HP bowlers led by PP Jaiswal (6/33) restricted them for 254 runs.

Brief Scores:

Himachal Pradesh 295 (Rishi Dhawan 117; C Sakhure 1/37) beat Madhya Pradesh 254 (Venkatesh Iyer 57; PP Jaiswal 6/33) by 41 runs.

10. Vidarbha outclass Maharashtra

Vidarbha rode on the brilliance of G. Satish as they easily chased down the measly target of 185 set by Maharashtra after batting first. Umesh Yadav and Karnewar shared 7 wickets among them. For Maharashtra, AR Bawane (48) was their best batsman while SM Kazi (3/45 and 40) gave a good all-round performance.

Brief scores:

Maharashtra 184 all out in 48.2 overs (A R Bawane 48; AK Karnewar 4/43) lost to Vidarbha 185/6 in 47 overs (G Satish 71; SM Kazi 3/45) by four wickets.

11. Punjab win a high scoring game

Yuvraj Singh continued his good form with an amazing 98 off 83 balls to enable Punjab chase a challenging target of 324. Batting first, Nakul Verma (113) and AR Swain (101) dominated the Punjab bowlers as Services put on 323/7 after 50 overs. In reply, every Punjab batsman contributed in the chase with Yuvraj being the star performer.

Brief scores:

Services 323/7 in 50 overs (Nakul Verma 113; Harbhajan Singh 1/41) lost to Punjab 325/7 in 49 overs (Yuvraj Singh 98; Ritesh Negi 3/51)

Twitter Reactions: Yuvraj Singh makes a strong case for national comeback with another solid knock