Vijay Hazare Trophy 2018: Spinners run rampant as Amit Mishra takes six wickets while CV Varun, Harmeet Singh bag five each

Chennai: It was spinners’ day out as veteran Amit Mishra (Haryana), C V Varun (Tamil Nadu) and Harmeet Singh (Tripura) came up with impressive performances to help their teams post victories on Friday in the Vijay Hazare Trophy Elite Group ‘C’ matches. [caption id=“attachment_2920432” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Amit Mishra. AFP[/caption] Thirty-five-year old leg-spinner Mishra, who has been in and out of the national squad and is aiming for a comeback, bowled beautifully to outwit the Assam batting line-up. He bowled unchanged in a 10-over spell to help Haryana bundle out Assam for 81 in 30.2 overs. From 39 for no loss in the ninth over, Mishra engineered a collapse to leave the rivals in a spin as only three batsmen managed to reach double figures. Sixteen-year-old Riyan Parag was the top-scorer with 24. Chasing 82 for victory, the Haryana openers went about the task in an aggressive manner with Harshal Patel (37) hammering four sixers in his 21-ball knock to make the job easy. In the Tamil Nadu-Services match, N Jagadeesan, pushed up to open the batting, blasted a superb century to power the former to 315 for 4 in 50 overs. Left-handed opener Abhinav Mukund (69) and B Indrajith (76) lent solidity to the host team’s effort. In response, the Services’ openers began in right earnest with Nakul H Verma being particularly impressive. He smashed 60 off 55 balls, inclusive of nine fours and a six, and put on 85 runs for the first wicket with A R Pachara (15). Mystery spinner Varun provided the opening Tamil Nadu was looking for as he had Verma caught and bowled. Pachara fell one run later and Services kept losing wickets at regular intervals to slip behind in the run-rate. Only captain Rajat Paliwal offered resistance among the other batsmen as Varun finished with memorable figures of 5 for 38 in just his second List A match. Earlier, openers Jagadeesan and Mukund added 173 runs in 186 balls to set the platform for Tamil Nadu. In the third match of the day, a reduced game (35 overs), left-arm spinner Harmeet took 5 for 10 as Jammu & Kashmir crahed to 79 all out. Tripura huffed and puffed its way to a win, in the 31st over with Nirupam Sen Choudhary making 24. Brief scores: Assam 81 in 30.2 overs (Riyan Parag 24, Arun Chaprana 3 for 4, Amit Mishra 6 for 13) lost to Haryana 83 for 2 in 11.2 overs (Shubham Rohilla 31 not out, Harshal Patel 37). Points: Haryana: 4; Assam: 0. J&K 79 in 30 overs (Ahmad Omar Banday 24, Neelambuj Vats 3 for 17, Harmeet Singh 5 for 10) lost to Tripura 81 for 6 in 30.5 overs (Nirupam Sen Choudhary 24). Points: Tripura: 4; J & K: 0. Tamil Nadu 315 for 4 in 50 overs (N Jagadeesan 133 (130b, 17x4), Abhinav Mukund 69 (89b, 4x4, 1x6), B Indrajith 76 not out (58b, 3x4, 3x6), Varun Choudhary 3 for 63) beat Services 232 in 46 overs (Nakul Verma 60 (55b, 9x4, 1x6), Rajat Paliwal (52 (61b, 2x4), Arjun Sharma 46, B Aparajith 3 for 29, C V Varun 5 for 38). Points: TN: 4; Services: 0.