Vijay Hazare Trophy: Sheldon Jackson, Cheteshwar Pujara star in Saurashtra's victory; Vidarbha win thriller against Jharkhand

Secunderabad: Sheldon Jackson hit a century while India Test star Cheteshwar Pujara made a half century as Saurashtra beat Chhattisgarh by 32 runs in a Vijay Hazare Trophy group match on Monday. Put into bat, Saurashtra rode on Jackson’s impressive 107-ball 106 and Pujara’s 60 off 92 balls to post 286/7 and then restricted Chattisgarh for 254/9 to run away with all four points from the Group D match. [caption id=“attachment_3907929” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Cheteshwar Pujara. AP[/caption] Opener Robin Uthappa and Ravindra Jadeja, who batted at number four, contributed 9 and 23 respectively for Saurashtra. In another Group D match, India pacer Umesh Yadav was among the wickets as Vidarbha beat Jharkhand by seven runs. Electing to bat, Ranji champions Vidarbha rode on half centuries from Jitesh Sharma (79), Sanjay Ramaswamy (77) and Apoorv Wankhade (51) to score 300 all out and then restricted Jharkhand to 293/7 in 50 overs. Saurabh Tiwary (65) and Kumar Deobrat’s (60) half tons went in vain for Jharkhand as they fell short by seven runs. Besides Yadav (2/69), Rajneesh Gurbani (2/52) and Yash Thakur (2/45) also chipped in for Vidarbha who took away all the four points with the win.