Vijay Hazare Trophy: Tewatia's fifty in vain as Chandigarh pulls off big chase

Rahul Tewatia celebrated his maiden India call-up with a 39-ball 73 but his effort went in vain as Chandigarh secured a thrilling three-wicket win over Haryana in its Vijay Hazare Trophy Group E opener in Kolkata on Sunday.

Tewatia, who was named in the India T20I squad for the five-match series against England, clobbered six sixes and four fours.

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Chandigarh skipper Manan Vohra led a stiff 300-run chase with a 120-ball 117 (9x4, 2x6) before Ankit Kaushik provided the finishes touches with his brisk 78 from 66 balls (4x4, 3x6). Chandigarh completed the chase with three balls to spare.

Earlier, Haryana got off to a solid start with a cracking 102 (125 balls; 11x1, 1x6) by Himanshu Rana, who put on an 115-run opening stand with Arun Chaprana.

Chandigarh bowlers fought back to trigger a middle-order collapse before Haryana rode on Tewatia's strong finish to post a challenging 299/9 from the stipulated 50 overs.

Tewatia, the explosive Rajasthan Royals left-hander, raced to his third List-A fifty in 32 balls and then went berserk, scoring his next 22 runs off only six balls before getting dismissed by Jagjit Singh (3/36).