Gujarat defeated Railways by 43 runs via the VJD method in Jaipur on Monday to notch up its sixth straight win in the Vijay Hazare Trophy Elite Group ‘C’.
In the other games on a rain-hit day, Jammu & Kashmir beat Bihar by 65 runs (via the VJD method), while the match between Bengal and Madhya Pradesh was called off due to rain after 18 overs were bowled in Bengal’s innings.
Railways elected to bat against Gujarat and could only post 231 in 49.2 overs as it frittered away a good start provided by the openers Mrunal Devhar (50, 76 balls, 4 fours, 1 six) and Pratham Singh (76, 78 balls, 9 fours, 2 sixes).
Gujarat spinners Piyush Chawla (4/46) and Axar Patel (2/50) along with left-arm medium pacer Arzan Nagwaswalla (3/46) choked the rival batting line-up, striking at regular intervals. In reply, Parthiv Patel (59, 66 balls, 7 fours) and Priyank Panchal (51, 69 balls, 2 fours) rattled up 109 before the former fell.
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Panchal and Dhrul Raval added 18 more runs before rain came down and ended hopes of further play, leaving Gujarat victor by 43 runs. Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, with six straight wins and 24 points each, top Group ‘C’
On the other hand, Puducherry climbed to the top of the Plate Group table with a clinical eight-wicket win over Chandigarh, while Assam medium pacer Pritam Das claimed a hat-trick in its 180-run rout of Manipur in Dehradun.
Veteran R Vinay Kumar ripped the Chandigarh top order with his two for 20 to set it up for Puducherry after it elected to field at the Kasiga College Ground. Left-arm spinner Sagar Udeshi (3/29) then ran through the middle-order while the other seamer Sagar Trivedi (2/36) wiped out the tail as Chandigarh was bundled out for 152 in 45.3 overs.
In reply, wicket-keeper batsman S Karthik remained unbeaten on a 75-ball 70 to steer Puducherry to a comfortable win in 26 overs. With four matches left, Puducherry now has 16 points, two points clear of Chandigarh in the Plate Group where the topper makes the last-eight.
Host Uttarakhand also remained in the hunt for the solitary quarterfinal spot from Plate Group after skipper Unmukt Chand led it to an eight-wicket win over Arunachal Pradesh. Uttarakhand thus grabbed the third spot with 14 points from five matches, and stays just behind Chandigarh on net run-rate.
Electing to field, Uttarakhand bundled out Arunachal Pradesh for 199 in 48.4 overs with Pradeep Chamoli emerging as the wrecker-in-chief with his four for 31.
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In reply, former Delhi captain Unmukt Chand slammed a 57-ball 87 (9x4, 6x6), while the other opener Karanveer Kaushal also made a quickfire 86 (from 46 balls; 12x4, 5x6) to set the tone as the host cantered home in just 23.2 overs.
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