Vijay Hazare Trophy: Panchal hits century in Gujarat's win, Puducherry crushes Manipur

Priyank Panchal scored an unbeaten century to guide Gujarat to an eight-wicket win in Group C, while Puducherry beat Manipur in the Plate Group.

FILE PHOTO: Gujarat's Priyank Panchal hit an unbeaten 135 against Jammu and Kashmir.

Opener Priyank Panchal starred with an unbeaten 135 (122 balls, 17 fours, 3 sixes) as Gujarat thrashed Jammu and Kashmir by eight wickets to notch up its eighth successive win in Group ‘C’ of the Vijay Hazare Trophy on Monday.

The Parthiv Patel-led side overhauled J&K’s score of 279 for 8 in the 38th over with the diminutive ‘keeper making 63 while Bhargav Merai remained not out on 70 (56 balls, 6 fours, 1 six).

Asked to bat by Gujarat, J&K rode on half-centuries by Abdul Samad (68, 53 balls, 7 sixes) and Shubham Khajuria (66, 64 balls, 6 fours, 3 sixes) and a knock of 49 by captain Parvez Rasool (49, 57 balls, 1 four, 1 six).

For Gujarat, Rush Kalaria (2/34), C. T. Gaja (2/46) and A. Nagwaswalla (2/74) took two wickets each.

Read: Shahrukh Khan ready for stardom, finally

Chasing a big score for victory, Gujarat openers Parthiv Patel and Panchal started in right earnest, rattling 83 runs in 10.3 overs before the former fell to Umar Nazir for 63.

After Dhruv Raval (7) fell cheaply, Panchal and Merai stepped up the pace and toyed with the J&K attack as Gujarat romped to 282 for 2 in 37.3 overs.

Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, both with eight wins each, will clash on October 16 to decide the group topper.

-Vinay Kumar, Sagar shine in Puducherry's win-

Veteran seamer R. Vinay Kumar bagged a match-winning four-wicket haul as Puducherry thrashed Manipur by nine wickets to return to the top of the Plate Group table in the Vijay Hazare Trophy here on Monday.

Vinay Kumar (4/21) rattled the top-order in a triple burst to reduce Manipur to 19/4 in 7.1 overs but skipper Priyojit Singh provided some resistance with an unbeaten 44.

Singh, however, lacked support at the other end as it was bundled out for 109 in 30.1 overs with left-arm spinner Sagar Udeshi returning with three for 26.

In reply, opener Arun Karthik steered the team home, slamming an unbeaten 67 from 43 balls with six fours and four sixes as Puducherry sealed the win in 16.1 overs.

The win took Puducherry to the top spot with 28 points from eight matches.

It will next face Assam in its last league match on October 17.

Group C brief scores Jammu & Kashmir 279 for 8 in 50 overs (Abdul Samad 68, Shubham Khajuria 66, Parvel Rasool 49, Rush Kalaria 2/34) lost to Gujarat 282 for 2 in 37.3 overs (Priyank Panchal 135 not out, Bhargav Merai 70 not out, Parthiv Patel 63) Points: Gujarat 4, J&K 0 Bihar 267 for 7 in 50 overs (SS Rathour 71, Babul Kumar 66, Rahmat Ullah 63, Diwesh Gurdev Pathania 3/63) lost to Services 269 for 5 in 48.4 overs (Ravi Chauhan 86, Rajat Paliwal 69 not out, Shivam S Kumar 2/42) Points: Services 4, Bihar 0 Bengal 223 all out in 49.1 overs (Shreevats Goswami 56, Abhishek Kumar Raman 42, Shahbaz 30) tied with Railways 223 all out in 50 overs (Pratham Singh 91, Mrunal Devdhar 47, Arindam Ghosh 25, Sayan Ghosh 3/61, Arnab Nandi 2/30) Points: Bengal 2, Railways 2 Plate Group brief scores Manipur 109/10 in 30.1 overs (Vinay Kumar 4/21, Sagar Udeshi 3/26). Puducherry 115/1 in 16.1 overs (Arun Karthik 67 not out). Puducherry won by nine wickets. Points: Puducherry 4, Manipur 0. Meghalaya 100/10 in 34.5 overs (Dwaraka Ravi Teja 51; Roshan Alam 4/25, Arup Das 3/15). Assam 104/4 in 17.4 overs (Sibsankar Roy 69 not out; Abhay Negi 3/39). Assam won by six wickets. Points: Assam 4, Meghalaya 0. Chandigarh 220/10 in 49.4 overs (A K Kaushik 55, Bipul Sharma 49; Tahmeed Rahman 3/28, Imliwati Lemtur 3/52). Nagaland 222/9 in 48.4 overs (Aosashi Longchar 76, Shrikant Mundhe 45; Shesth Nirmohi 5/37). Nagaland won by one wicket. Points: Nagaland 4, Chandigharh 0.