Chhattisgarh continue winning streak, beat Andhra by 56 runs

BENGALURU: Chhattisgarh continued their winning run in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, beating Andhra by 56 runs in the Elite Group A game here on Sunday.

Asked to bat first, Chhattisgarh, who had stunned defending champions Mumbai on Saturday, crawled to 268/9 in their allotted 50 overs at the Alur cricket stadium II.

After opener Jiwanjyot Singh (16) fell early, Shashank Chandrakar (54) and one-down Ashutosh Singh (75) rallied the innings with their 50-run stand for the second wicket.

Shashank and skipper Harpreet Singh Bhatia (16) fell cheaply, but that did not deter Ashutosh from playing his shots

as he completed his 50 in 71 balls. His 93-ball knock had six fours.

During the chase, Chhatisgarh bowlers kept taking wickets at regular intervals and the Andhra innings eventually folded up at 212, way short of their target. Shashank Singh, an offie (3-37) was the pick of the bowlers, while right-arm medium pacer Puneet Datey (2-40) and slow-left arm orthodox Ajay Mandal (2 -34) grabbed two wickets each.

In another Elite Group A match at Alur, Kerala defeated Hyderabad by 62 runs. In the third match of the group, Goa defeated Jharkhand by 42 runs.

NO GAMES IN GROUP B

VADODARA: All matches in Elite Group B were washed out without a ball being played due to a wet outfield for the second consecutive day here on Sunday.

Overnight rain meant all six teams—Baroda, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Maharashtra—got two points each. On Saturday, the matches involving Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Baroda and Vidarbha too were abandoned.