Vijay Hazare Trophy 2018: Maharashtra bundle out Railways for 180 to post seven-wicket win

Bengaluru: Maharashtra produced a clinical show to defeat Railways by seven wickets in a lop-sided Elite Group A match of the Vijay Hazare Trophy played here Wednesday.

Maharashtra bowlers put up a spirited show to bundle out the Railways for a paltry 180 in 48.2 overs.

And then their batsman took the side home with 8.4 overs to spare at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium with Ruturaj Gaikwad (84 off 93 balls) top-scoring for the side.

Representational image. Getty Images

For Railways, one-down Mrunal Devdhar (64 off 94 balls) emerged as the top-scorer.

But their other top four batsmen failed, with Maharashtra bowlers striking at regular intervals.

Skipper Saurabh Wakaskar (1), Karan Sharma (0), Akash Yadav (5) and Ankit Yadav (0) fell cheaply as Devdhar was devoid of partners at the other end.

Prashant Awasthi (25), Ashish Yadav (30) and Manish Rao (30) were unable to convert their starts into big scores, but their knocks ensured the Railways went past the 175-run mark.

For Maharashtra, experienced pacers Anupam Sanklecha (2-16), Samad Fallah (2-33), slow-left arm orthodox bowler Satyajeet Bachhav (2-38) and offie Shamshuzama Kazi (2-33) did the major damage.

The chase was a walk in the park as openers Ruturaj Gaikwad (84) and Jay Pande (38) gave Maharashtra an 88-run stand for the first wicket.

Wicket-keeper Mandar Bhandari (29), too, played his part to perfection, but fell when Maharashtra were cruising to victory.

Experienced Ankit Bawne (29 not out) and Kazi (9 not out) then held fort to take the side home.

In the other two Elite Group A matches, chasing a stiff 297, Himachal Pradesh rode on wicket-keeper batsman Ankush Bains' blistering unbeaten knock of 173 to defeat Vidarha by four wickets at Alur near Bengaluru.

At Bengaluru, Baroda defeated Karnataka by seven wickets by the VJD method.

Bihar, Uttarakhand on a roll

Leg spinner Samar Quadri foxed Meghalaya with a five-wicket to power Bihar to a 108-run victory and consolidate their position atop the plate group standings in the Vijay Hazare Trophy Wednesday.

Defending a paltry 211 for 9, Quadri spearheaded the attack his career-best List A figures of 5 for 22 and was backed up well by former Services left-arm spinner Ashutosh Aman (10-2-15-3) to skittle out Meghalaya for 103 in 42.5 overs.

This was Bihar's hat-trick of wins in four matches, which include one abandoned match, as they sit atop the table with 14 points.

Rehan Khan and Anunay Singh gave Bihar an excellent start to reduce Meghalaya to 9/2 inside six overs before Quadri-Aman stole the show at the Moti Bagh Stadium here.

Opting to field, Meghalaya did well to restrict Bihar to 211 for 9 in 50 overs with Lakhan Singh, Abhay Negi and Gurinder Singh claiming two wickets each.

Debutant Anshuman Gautam, batting at No 7, was the Bihar topscorer with a crucial 40 before being run out.

Uttarakhand (12 points) also remained in the hunt at the second spot, registering a hattrick of wins from four matches with a nine-wicket rout of Manipur at the GS Patel Stadium in Nadiad.

One team make the cut to the knock-outs from the plate group.

Sent in, Manipur folded for 125 in 37.4 overs with Sunny Rana returning with 3/27. Mayank Mishra (2/25), M Rangarajan (2/16) and S Saundiyal (2/20) also contributed as Uttarakhand put up a disciplined bowling show.

In reply, Uttarakhand chased down the target in 26.2 overs with skipper Vineet Saxena leading from the front with an unbeaten 52. Debutant opener Arya Sethi struck 50 in an opening stand of 101 runs with his skipper.

Summarised scores:

At Bengaluru: Railways 180 all out in 48.2 overs (Mrunal Devdhar 64, Ashish Yadav 30, Anupam Sanklecha 2-16) lost to Maharashtra 186/3 in 41.4 overs (Ruturaj Gaikwad 84, Jay Pande 38, Avinash Yadav 2-39) by seven wickets.

Karnataka 237 all out in 50 overs (R Samarth 102, Karun Nair 37, Atit Sheth 4-42) lost to Baroda 230/3 in 43.3 overs (Kedar Devdhar 123, Deepak Hooda 62 not out, M Prasidh Krishna 1-44).

At Alur: Vidarbha 297/7 in 50 overs (Atharva Taide 148 not out, Faiz Fazal 91, Vinay Galetiya 2-51) lost to Himachal Pradesh 298/6 in 47.5 overs (Ankush Bains 173 not out, Priyanshu Khanduri 63, Akshay Wakhare 2-60) by four wickets.

At Vadodara: Bihar 211/9; 50 overs (A Gautam 40) beat Meghalaya 103; 42.5 overs (Samar Quadri 5/22, Ashutosh Aman 3/15) by 108 runs

At Nandiad: Manipur 125; 37.4 overs ( Yashpal Singh 76; Sunny Rana 3/27) lost to Uttarakhand 127/1; 26.2 overs (Arya Sethi 50, Vineet Saxena 52) by nine wickets.

At Anand: Mizoram 252/6; 50 overs (Taruwar Kohli 113) beat Sikkim 210; 47.3 overs (SA Khadir 4/35) by 42 runs.