Vijay Hazare Trophy 2021: Prerak Mankad's smashing 174 helps Saurashtra beat Chandigarh; Uttarakhand down Mizoram

Kolkata/Chennai: Middle-order batsman Prerak Mankad on Saturday took Eden Gardens by storm with a sensational 174 to power Saurashtra to a 62-run win over Chandigarh in a group E clash of the Vijay Hazare Trophy here. The 26-year-old plundered six sixes and 16 fours in his knock from 130 balls to propel Saurashtra to a massive 388 for 7 after Chandigarh opted to bowl. In reply, Chandigarh, who have been impressive in their debut Elite season with three wins on the trot, could manage 326 for 7. The win helped Saurashtra consolidate their lead with 16 points, four clear of Chandigarh to close in on a quarterfinal spot. Saurashtra lost both their openers, Avi Barot (25) and Snell Patel (20) inside 11 overs but thereafter it was all about Prerak, who stitched two century-plus stands with Vishvaraj Jadeja (50 off 53 balls; 3x4, 2x6) and Arpit Vasavada (71 off 52 balls; 5x4, 2x6) to lead the charge.

4⃣ matches
4⃣ wins

Saurashtra continue their winning run in the @Paytm #VijayHazareTrophy as they beat Chandigarh by 62 runs. 👏👏 #SAUvUTCA | @saucricket

Scorecard 👉 https://t.co/YPkRV821I8 pic.twitter.com/3O2OHIYIcE

— BCCI Domestic (@BCCIdomestic) February 27, 2021

The No 4 batsman paced his innings brilliantly taking 53 balls for his half-century before he stepped up to race to his second List A century in the next 39 balls. There was no stopping Prerak as he took another 27 balls to cruise to 150. He was dismissed by Jagjit Singh in the final over but the damage had been done. Chirag Jani too scored a quickfire 30 not out from 10 balls (3x4, 2x6) to end their innings on a high. Chasing the target, Chandigarh skipper Manan Vohra (50) and Arslan Khan (61) put on a century-plus stand and then Ankit Kaushik chipped in with 54 but it proved too little in the end. Uttarakhand notched up their fourth straight win beating Mizoram by eight wickets in their Vijay Hazare Trophy plate group match here on Saturday. Uttarakhand are currently on top of the standings with 16 points from four matches, sharing the position with Assam, who won their match against Sikkim by four wickets. Leg-spinner Dikshansu Negi took 6 for 21 in a brilliant bowling performance to help Uttarakhand bundle out Mizoram for a paltry 117. In reply, Uttarakhand knocked off the required runs in just 10.5 overs. In another match, Assam chased down a target of 246 set by Sikkim in the 48th over to maintain their all-win record in the group. For Assam, experienced pacer Pritam Das bowled beautifully to return excellent figures of 5/34 in his team’s win. Skipper Shreyas Iyer’s fluent 116 and an impressive show by India speedster Shardul Thakur powered Mumbai to a 67-run win over Rajasthan in an Elite Group D game of the Vijay Hazare Trophy here on Saturday. This was Mumbai’s fourth successive win, having earlier defeated Delhi, Maharashtra and Puducherry. Opting to bat at the KL Saini stadium, Mumbai rode on Iyer’s 103-ball knock to post a competitive 317/7. The elegant right-handed batsman led from the front before his bowlers bundled out the opposition for 250 with Thakur (4/50) doing the bulk of the damage. Mumbai openers – young Yashasvi Jaiswal (38) and Prithvi Shaw (36) – gave the domestic giants a strong start, adding 71 for the first wicket. But Rajasthan pegged back Mumbai by removing both the openers in quick succession as they slipped to 83/2. Iyer anchored the innings before toying with the Rajasthan attack, scoring his second century of the tournament with the help of 11 fours and three sixes. He found able partners in Sarfaraz Khan (30) and Suryakumar Yadav (29), who played their roles to perfection. Iyer added 96 for the third wicket with Sarfaraz and then forged a 56-run stand with Suryakumar for the fourth wicket to put the hosts on the back foot. After Iyer was cleaned up in the 46th over by Ravi Bishnoi, all-rounder Akash Parkar made an unbeaten 24 off 15 balls, to prop up Mumbai. For Rajasthan, left-arm spinner Shubham Sharma (3/59) did the bulk of the damage. Chasing 318, Rajasthan lost opener Yash Kothari (2) and skipper Ashok Menaria (20) early and were struggling at 32/2. Manender Singh (40) and Mahipal Lomror (76) tried to take the game deep with their 101-run third-wicket stand, but medium pacer Akash Parkar broke the partnership after trapping Singh in front of the wicket. Shardul castled Lomror to leave Rajasthan at 160/4. From thereon, it was an uphill task for Rajasthan and they were eventually bowled out for 250. Brief scores: Arunachal Pradesh 150 in 50 overs (Vipin Dhaka 37, Akhilesh Sahani 45, Chengkam Sangma 3/ 21) lost to Meghalaya 157 for two in 28.5 overs (Rohit Shah 70 not out, Yogesh Tiwari 28, DB Ravi Teja 32 not out) by eight wickets. Meghalaya : 4 points; Arunachal 0. Nagaland 257 for nine in 50 overs (Sedezhalie Rupero 28, R. Jonathan 46, Shrikant Mundhe 52, Hem Chetri 82 not out) beat Manipur 240 for nine in 50 overs (Narsingh Yadav 62, Nitesh Sedai 50, M Longlonyamba 45, K Priyojit Singh 32, Stuart Binny 3/32) by 17 runs. Nagaland: 4 points ; Manipur 0. Mizoram 117 in 38.3 overs (Taruwar Kohli 62, KB Pawan 28; Dikshanshu Negi 6/21) lost to Uttarakhand 118 for two in 10.5 overs (Kamal Singh 40 not out, Kunal Chandela 58) by eight wickets. Uttarakhand: 4 points; Mizoram 0. Sikkim 245 all out in 50 overs (Nilesh Lamichaney 36, Robin Bist 120, Varun Sood 50; Pritam Das 5/34) lost to Assam 249 for six in 47.5 overs (Ashish Thapa 43, Denish Das 53, Saahil Jain 61 not out) by four wickets. Assam: 4 points, Sikkim: 0. At Eden Gardens: Saurashtra 388/7; 50 overs (Prerak Mankad 174, Vishvaraj Jadeja 50; Jaskaran Singh 4/60) b Chandigarh 326/7 (Ankit Kaushik 54, Manan Vohra 50, Gautam Gambhir 40 not out) by 62 runs. At JU Second Campus, Saltlake: Services 287/5; 50 overs (Rajat Paliwal 78 not out, Shivam Tiwari 74) b Haryana 175; 43.3 overs (Jayant Yadav 59) by 112 runs. At 22 Yards Academy: Bengal 368/4; 50 overs (Abhimanyu Easwaran 99, Anustup Majumdar 92 not out, Ritwik Roy Chowdhury 55, Shahbaz Ahmed 48 not out, Kaif Ahmed 42) b Jammu & Kashmir 286; 45.3 overs (Abid Mushtaq 68, Parvez Rasool 50; Arnab Nandi 4/46) by 82 runs. Mumbai 317/7 (Shreyas Iyer 116, Yashasvi Jaiswal 38; Shubham Sharma 3/59, Abhimanyu Lamba 2/66) beat Rajasthan 250 (Mahipal Lomror 76, M Singh 40; Shardul Thakur 4/50; Dhawal Kulkarni 3/26) by 67 runs. At Sawai Mansingh Stadium: Maharashtra 328/7 (Azim Kazi 91, Kedar Jadhav 86; Lalit Yadav 3/69, Pradeep Sangwan 2/61) lost to Delhi 330/7 (Shikhar Dhawan 153, Dhruv Shorey; Satyajeet Bachhav 3/68) by three wickets. At Jaipuria Vidhyalaya ground: Puducherry 227/9 (Sheldon Jackson 104, Sagar Trivedi 51; Rishi Dhawan 4/44, Pankaj Jaswal 2/23) beat Himachal 123 (Abhimanyu Rana 27; Sagar Udeshi 4/35, Kannan Vignesh 3/30) by 104 runs.