Vijay Hazare Trophy 2018: Yuvraj Singh's heroics in vain as Punjab plummet in 21-over dash
Veteran batsman Yuvraj Singh evoked a feeling of nostalgia by hammering a scintillating half-century against Baroda in the 2018 edition of the Vijay Hazare Trophy. However, the stylish left-hander's sublime knock of 51 off 36 balls was not enough to prevent Punjab from sliding to a 25-run defeat at the KSCA Cricket Ground (3) in Alur.
After a delayed start emanating from a wet outfield curtailed the game to 21 overs, Punjab won the toss and chose to bowl first. Riding on Vishnu Solanki's blistering 49-ball 77 as well as a handy cameo from Swapnil Singh, they registered a strong total of 167. Siddarth Kaul was the pick of the bowlers with three wickets.
Punjab's run-chase began on the wrong note as the top-order trio of Shubman Gill, Manan Vohra and Mandeep Singh fell one after another. With his team tottering at 38/3, Yuvraj decided to counter-attack and reeled off seven boundaries as well as a mammoth six before getting castled by Atit Sheth. From then, Punjab's lower-order collapsed in a heap to hand a narrow victory for Baroda.
Brief Scores: Baroda - 167/7 from 21 overs [Vishnu Solanki 77* (49), Swapnil Singh 33 (37), Siddarth Kaul 3/36, Sandeep Sharma 2/25]; Punjab - 142 all out in 20.5 overs [Yuvraj Singh 51 (36), Swapnil Singh 2/4, Rishi Arothe 2/16, Atit Sheth 2/25]
Result - Baroda won by 25 runs
Opting to bowl first after winning the toss, Assam's bowling attack performed brilliantly by razing Railways for 161 from 43.1 overs. A couple of lower-order cameos from Abhishek Yadav and Avinash Yadav helped shore up the scorecard. Leg-spinner Jitumoni Kalita and seamer Arup Das picked up three wickets each.
Chasing a relatively modest total, Assam were dented early as they lost both their openers for ducks. Medium pacer Amit Mishra kept striking at regular intervals to end up with his second five-wicket hauls in his List A career. Notwithstanding a fighting effort from Amit Sinha, Railways blew away Assam for 126 and collected a 35-run triumph.
Brief Scores: Railways - 161 all out in 43.1 overs [Abhishek Yadav 31 (50), Avinash Yadav 30 (49), Jitumoni Kalita 3/23, Arup Das 3/41]; Assam - 126 all out in 39.3 overs [Amit Sinha 39 (63), Abu Nechim Ahmed 26 (32), Amit Mishra 5/21, Ankit Yadav 3/24]
Result - Railways won by 35 runs
The contest between Karnataka and Haryana at the KSCA Cricket Ground (2) in Alur was abandoned without a ball bowled due to a wet outfield.