Hyderabad: Hosts Hyderabad crushed Chhattisgarh by 84 runs in their last league match to top Group ‘D’ and qualify for the Vijay Hazare one-day knockout quarterfinals here on Wednesday.
The win was Hyderabad’s fifth in six matches and took the points tally to 20. Saurashtra too made it as the second placed team with four wins that fetched 16 points, the same as Vidarbha and Chhattisgarh who lost out on net run-rate.
Electing to bat, Hyderabad rode on brilliant knocks from B. Sandeep (79), A. T. Rayudu (46) and T. Ravi Teja (45) to post an impressive 280 for 8 in 50 overs.
In reply, Chhattisgarh could not quite handle the pace of Mohammed Siraj (5 for 37) and were all out for 196 in 44.3 overs.
Brief scores (6th round)
n At Gymkhana: Hyderabad 280/8 in 50 overs (B. Sandeep 79, A. T. Rayudu 46, T. Ravi Teja 45, Akash Bhandari 25, Pankaj Rao 3/52, Md Shahnawaz 2/53) bt Chhattisgarh 196 in 44.3 overs (A. N. Khare 71, Vishal Singh 26, Sanjeet Desai 47, Mohammed Siraj 5/37 — 8.31-37-5, Mehdi Hasan 2/28).
n At AOC: Vidarbha 159 in 40.5 overs (Jitesh Sharma 55, Jaydev Unadkat 2/18, Shauraya Sanandia 2/33, D. A. Jadeja 2/32, K. R. Makwana 2/9) lost to Saurashtra 161/2 in 34 overs (Avi Barot 91 n.o — 114b, 4x13, 6x2, Cheteshwar Pujara 46 n.o).
n At RGICS: Jharkhand 296/9 in 50 overs (Utkarsh Singh 31, Virat Singh 96 — 97b, 4x11, Sumeeth Kumar 35, Umar Nazir 3/71, Parvez Rasool 3/46) bt Jammu & Kashmir 199 in 46 overs (Shubham Pundir 74, Vikash Singh 3/37, Ashish Kumar 3/23, Anukul Roy 2/38).
Vihari, Bharat go great guns
Andhra men’s cricket team made history by winning all their six matches to top group Group ‘C’ and qualify for the Vijay Hazare one-day quarterfinals on Wednesday.
In their last league mach played in Chennai, Andhra defeated mighty Mumbai by 29 runs to take their tally to 24 points. Mumbai finished second with 20 points and also qualified for the knockouts to be played in Delhi from February 21.
By virtue of topping the group, Team Andhra are eligible for '10 lakh cash award from the BCCI. Andhra beat Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Goa, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Mumbai on way to the top.
Consistent performances from K.S. Bharat (361 runs with two centuries), captain G. Hanuma Vihari (347 runs with one century), K. Ashwin Hebbar (237 runs) and Ricky Bhui (220 runs), B. Sumanth (155 runs), P. Girinath Reddy (11 wickets), B. Ayyappa (10 wickets), I. Karthik Raman (10 wickets) and debutant S. Ashish (5 wickets) were the highlights of the team’s success.
On Wednesday captain G. Hanuma Vihari (169) and K. S. Bharat (105) starred in Andhra’s win over Mumbai.
The massive 254-run partnership in 204 balls between Bharat and Vihari helped Andhra post a mammoth 344 for 5 in 50 overs before they restricted the opponents to 315 for 9 despite Siddhesh Lad’s strokeful ton.
Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu ended its losing streak by posting a comfortable seven-wicket win over Team Rajasthan with left-arm spinner R Sai Kishore stealing the show with a five-wicket haul, his first in List ‘A’ cricket.
In the other match of the day, wicketkeeper Keenan Vaz snared seven victims (six catches and a stumping) to equal the record of Mahesh Rawat and Parthiv Patel in List A matches as Goa edged Gujarat by one wicket in a thriller.
Brief scores (6th round)
Andhra 344 for 5 in 50 overs (K. S. Bharat 105 — 126b, 10x4, G. Hanuma Vihari 169 — 118b, 16x4, 7x6, Ricky Bhui 53, Roystan Dias 3/77) bt Mumbai 315 for 9 in 50 overs (Prithvi Shaw 31, Siddhesh Lad 118 — 98b, 6x4s, 4x6s, Surya Kumar Yadav 27, Shivam Dube 36, I. Karthik Raman 3/55).
Rajasthan 141 in 38.2 overs (Arjit Gupta 27, Chetan Bist 36, R. Sai Kishore 5/26, R. Ashwin 2/37) lost to Tamil Nadu 143 for 3 in 23.3 overs (V. Ganga Sridhar Raju 27, N. Jagadeesan 39, B. Aparajith 55 n.o).
