Saurashtra slay Vidarbha to enter semi-finals
JAIPUR: Saurashtra produced another dominating display to steamroll Vidarbha by seven wickets and storm into the semifinals of the Vijay Hazare Trophy here on Wednesday.First, Saurashtra bowlers-led by skipper Jaydev Unadkat (2/25) dished out a clinical show and bundled out the opposition for a paltry 150 in 40.3 overs, despite Apoorv Wankhede’s hard-fought 72.They then rode on Prerak Mankad’s gusty unbeaten 77 off 72 balls to chase the target with 20.1 overs to spare despite a toporder failure.
Put into bat at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Vidarbha lost their first three batters inside the first eight overs as Unadkat and young speedster Chetan Sakariya (1/12) wreaked havoc.
Vidarbha lost in-form opener Atharva Taide (1), who became Unadkat’s first scalp. Ganesh Satish (1) and Yash Rathod (1) also faltered cheaply.Then skipper Faiz Fazal (23) and wicketkeeper bater Akshay Wadkar (18) tried to rally the innings with their 45-run stand for the fourth wicket. But it was medium-pacer Prerak Mankad (1/22), who broke the stand after cleaning up Wadkar, to leave them reeling at 54/4.
Vidarbha lost half their side for 66. Only Apoorva Wankhede, who hammered five boundaries and as many maximums, showed mettle and hit a quickfire 72 off 69 balls, but was devoid of partners in the crunch game as Saurashtra bowlers bowled in the right areas.
Services thrash Kerala
Meanwhile, Services put up an allround show to sail into the Vijay Hazare Trophy semi-finals with a facile seven-wicket win over Kerala at the K L Saini Stadium here on Wednesday.
Chasing a paltry 176, Services cantered home in 30.5 overs with opener Ravi Chauhan topscoring with a 90-ball 95 (13x4, 3x6) and skipper Rajat Paliwal making a 86-ball 65 (8x4).
Paliwal won the toss and sent Kerala in as their bowling department led by seasoned medium pacer Diwesh Pathania (8-2-19-3) rattled the Kerala toporder before bowling them out for a paltry 175 in 40.4 overs.
Later, Pulkit Narang (2/51), Abhishek Tiwari (2/33 from 7.4 overs) and Rahul Singh (1/35 from 9 overs) made their presence felt to polish off the tail.
Services were also brilliant on the field and ran out Rohan Kunnummal -- the Kerala top-scorer -- for 85 to restrict them to a below-par total.
The 32-year-old Pathania struck twice in the seventh over when he dismissed Mohammed Azharuddeen (7) and Jalaj Saxena (0) in successive balls to give them a perfect start.
It was Kerala’s rookie opener Kunnummal (85 from 106 balls; 7x4, 2x6) who kept them on the track with a resolute half-century, reaching his second List A fifty in 77 balls.