Vijay Hazare 2016-17: Round Up: Jharkhand through to quarters as Mumbai crash out
MS Dhoni successfully led Jharkhand to the quarterfinals of the Vijay Hazare Trophy as his side comfortably defeated Jammu and Kashmir by six wickets at the Bengal Cricket Academy ground in Kalyani during the final round of group stage matches.
Shahbaz Nadeem was the star for Jharkhand as he bagged five wickets to restrict J&K to 184 in 43 overs. Nadeem provided the crucial breakthroughs as he picked up the wickets of Parvez Rasool and Owais Shah, both who were looking threatening with their batting performances. In the end, Rasool scored 45 while Shah scored 59. None of the other J&K batsmen were impressive as the next highest score was only 26 which came from the bat of Manik Gupta.
Extra Cover: Jharkhand batsman Saurabh Tiwary 'booed' as century averts MS Dhoni from batting display
Chasing 185 for victory, Jharkhand lost the wicket of Ishan Kishen early on, but the middle order provided the much-needed stability and led the team to an easy victory. Kumar Deobrat top scored with a magnificent knock of 78 in 94 deliveries. MS Dhoni did not get to spend too much time at the crease but once again finished the innings for his side with a quickfire knock of 19.
Brief scores: Jharkhand 185-4 def. Jammu and Kashmir 184 all out
Indian stars Parthiv Patel and Jasprit Bumrah were the top performers for their side as Gujarat defeated Bengal by 7 wickets in the final group stage match at the MA Chidambaram stadium in Chennai earlier today. Gujarat were able to chase down the total in 28 overs which meant that they remained 2nd on the table and thus qualified for the quarterfinal stage and knocked Mumbai out of the tournament.
Gujarat, who opted to field first after winning the toss took wickets at regular intervals and did not allow the opposition to take control of the innings at any given point. Aamir Gani and Abhimanyu Easwaran top scored for the side with 37 each, while Ashoke Dinda provided a worthy contribution of 33 with the bat. Bumrah was the pick of the bowlers as he picked up three crucial wickets.
In response, Parthiv led from the front as he smashed his way to an unbeaten knock of 88 to take his side to victory. His knock included 13 fours and it came in 83 deliveries. Despite losing the match, Bengal finished on top of the table with 20 points, while Gujarat remained 2nd with 16 points.
Brief scores: Gujarat 172-3 def. Bengal 168 all out
Mumbai produced one of the biggest wins of the season by chasing down the total of 95 in only 5.4 overs but were unable to qualify for the knockout stages as they fell short on net run to Ranji Trophy winners Gujarat and finished third on the table.
Goa, who chose to bat first were dismantled as they were bowled out for 95 in 35 overs. Abhishek Nayar, Shardul Thakur, and Dhawal Kulkarni ran riot as they picked up 9 wickets amongst themselves while Shivam Dubey bagged one wicket as well.
In response, Rohit Sharma was dismissed early on after scoring only 4, but Suryakumar Yadav and Aditya Tare smashed the opposition bowlers all around the park to achieve the target with 266 balls to spare.
Brief Scores: Mumbai 99-2 def. Goa 95 all out
Delhi produced a superb bowling performance to win their final group stage encounter against Uttar Pradesh in Bhubaneshwar. Despite being bowled out for 220, they managed to win by 112 runs but were unable to qualify for the knockout stage as they finished 4th in the group with 12 points.
After opting to bat first, Delhi kept losing wickets at regular intervals, and no two batsmen were able to produce a solid partnership. Unmukt Chand top scored with 78 while Himmat Singh scored a crucial half-century in the middle of the innings. Shikhar Dhawan failed with the bat as he managed to score only 8.
In response, Uttar Pradesh were in all sorts of trouble right from the beginning of the innings as both the openers were dismissed without scoring a single run. None of the other batsmen really got going as Kulwant Khejroliya bagged 5 wickets to dismantle the batting line-up.
Brief scores: Delhi 220 all out def. Uttar Pradesh 108 all out
In other matches:
Tamil Nadu produced one of the biggest wins ever as they defeated Tripura by 262 runs to finish on top of the table. Dinesh Karthik and Ganga Sridhar Raju propelled the side to 337 in the first innings, and Aswin Crist bagged five wickets during the 2nd innings of the match to give Tamil Nadu the victory.
Punjab failed to qualify for the knockout stages as they lost to Odisha by 69 runs in their final group stage encounter. Chasing 241 for victory, the Punjab batsmen were not up to the task as they were dismissed for 171. Yuvraj Singh once again failed with the bat as he managed to score only 8.
Brief Scores:
Tamil Nadu 337-8 def. Tripura 75 by 262 runs
Odisha 240 all out def. Punjab 171 by 69 runs