Vijay Hazare Trophy 2018: Andhra win in tense run chase; UP edge past Bengal in close finish
Andhra found it extremely difficult to chase 189 against Goa before finally winning the game with only a wicket and 3 balls to spare. Goa's innings had collapsed from a stable 129/4 to 188 all out, as Girinath Reddy troubled the middle and lower order with his medium pace to finish with 4/32. Each of the batsmen at numbers three to six got off to a start for Goa but every time they seemed to settle down at the crease, they threw away their wickets to either pace or spin.
As a result, Andhra had only a paltry target to chase, but suffered miserably with the bat themselves.The top order ensured that steadiness was maintained from the beginning, but pacer Vijesh Prabhudessai removed the top three, including captain Hanuma Vihari, for only a decent score. Andhra's fight was maintained throughout by a lone-standing Ricky Bhui, who remained unbeaten on 56 despite continuously losing partners at the other end. Lakshay Garg bagged three, but in the end, Andhra prevailed to somehow overhaul the target of 189.
Following a tie against Kerala, Bengal played out another thriller, but ended up on the wrong side this time around. Uttar Pradesh posted 329/4 courtesy an unbeaten 103 from Akshdeep Nath, who required only 72 balls for his knock, with 11 foursand 2 sixes. Half-centuries from Prashant Gupta and Umang Sharma helped Nath immensely.
Bengal hit back through Vivek Singh, who contributed 147 from 125 balls to keep his side going. Support came from Anustup Majumdar who scored 51, but incomplete knocks from captain Manoj Tiwary (32), Writtick Chatterjee (35) and Sumanta Gupta (22) put Uttar Pradesh ahead in the match. In the end, it was too much for the Bengal lower order to score, as they fell just seven short of the opposition's score to be bowled out for 322.
Brief Scores:
Group C
Andhra 191/9 in 49.3 overs (Bhui 56*; Garg 3/32, Prabhudessai 3/43) beat Goa 188 in 47.4 overs (Kauthankar 43, Prabhudessai 38; PG Reddy 4/32) by 1 wicket
Madhya Pradesh 303/2 in 46 overs (Patidar 158, Rameez 78*; R Shah 1/47) beat Tamil Nadu 302/9 in 50 overs (Jagadeesan 99, V Shankar 84; Kushwah 3/59) by 8 wickets
Rajasthan 272/4 in 47.3 overs (A Gautam 149*, Lomror 81; S Dubey 2/36) beat Mumbai 268/8 in 50 overs (Lad 100, Shaw 52; K Ahmed 4/35) by 6 wickets
Group B
Uttar Pradesh 329/4 in 50 overs (A Nath 103*, P Gupta 60;Gani 2/59) beat Bengal 322 in 49.4 overs (Vivek 147, Majumdar 51; Rajpoot 3/51) by 7 runs
Delhi 250/2 in 44.1 overs (Shorey 103*, Dalal 87; Sanklecha 1/44) beat Maharashtra 246 in 50 overs (Kazi 59; Sangwan 5/41, Negi 3/40) by 8 wickets
Himachal Pradesh 273/9 in 50 overs (Kaushik 83*, Gangta 62; K Akshay 4/32) beat Kerala 271/7 in 50 overs (Baby 95, Vinod 66; Jaiswal 3/51) by 1 wicket
Group D
Chattisgarh 251/8 in 50 overs (Chandraker 59, Kushwah 48; Dayal 3/35) beat Jammu & Kashmir 246 in 49.3 overs (Bandy 75; P Rao 3/44, Shivendra 3/46) by 5 runs
Hyderabad 278/6 in 49.3 overs (A Reddy 94, Rayudu 76; Sanandia 2/41) beat Saurashtra 277/7 in 50 overs (Mankad 62, Vyas 57; Siraj 3/46) by 4 wickets
Vidarbha 267/9 in 50 overs (Wankhade 73, K Sharma 54; R Raj 3/49) beat Services 250/9 in 50 overs (Pathania 100*, S Chatterjee 54; Gurbani 2/47) by 17 runs