Vijay Hazare Trophy: Ambati Rayudu's knock goes in vain as Vidarbha lose to Punjab

New Delhi: Favourites Punjab on Saturday cruised to an easy six-wicket win over Vidarbha in a group A league encounter of the Vijay Hazare Trophy with skipper Harbhajan Singh bowling an economical spell and Mandeep Singh blasting an unbeaten 86. Batting first, Vidarbha were bowled out for 218 in 49.3 overs with Ambati Rayudu scoring 86 off 109 balls. He hit six boundaries and three sixes. [caption id=“attachment_3302700” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File picture of Ambati Rayudu. Getty Images[/caption] Punjab pacers Manpreet Gony (2/50) and Siddharth Kaul (4/33 in 10 overs) bowled well first up while skipper Harbhajan was the most economical among the bowlers giving away 29 runs in 10 overs getting Apoorv Wankhede’s wicket in the bargain. In reply, Punjab knocked off the runs with 53 balls to spare with Mandeep anchoring the chase hitting nine boundaries and two sixes. Former India A player Manan Vohra also hit 50 while current India U-19 limited overs captain Abhishek Sharma struck 46 off 37 balls at the Feroz Shah Kotla. Elsewhere, Riding on half-centuries from skipper Aditya Tare (83) and Siddhesh Lad (64), Mumbai got the better of Gujarat by 98 runs in a Group C match. Put in to bat, Mumbai overcame early jitters to put up a competitive total 273 for nine in their allotted 50 overs and then bundled out Ranji Trophy champions Gujarat for 175 in 41.4 overs. Mumbai lost three quick wickets to be reeling at 46 for three, before opener Akhil Herwadkar (41) also got out to leave the team struggling at 85 for four at one stage. However, Tare and Lad came to the team’s rescue with a crucial 117-run stand for the fifth wicket to bail Mumbai out of trouble. Tare took 81 balls for his 83, which was studded with 13 boundaries, while Lad’s knock came off 60 deliveries that included five sixes and two fours. Brief Scores Group A: Vidarbha 218 (Ambati Rayudu 86, Ganesh Sathish 42, Siddharth Kaul 4/33, Harbhajan Singh 1/29) lost to Punjab 219 (Mandeep Singh 86 no, Manan Vohra 50, Abhishek Sharma 46) by six wickets; Baroda 259/9 (Deepak Hooda 119, Kedar Devdhar 77, Irfan Pathan 6, Karn Sharma 2/51) beat Railways 229 (Saurabh Wakaskar 58, Krunal Pandya 3/32, Hardik Pandya 2/47, Irfan Pathan 2/30) by 30 runs; Odisha 229 (Sandeep Pattanaik 91, Anurag Sarangi 77, Joginder Sharma 2/47, Mohit Sharma 2/33) lost to Haryana 230/5 (Chaitanya Bishnoi 83, Rahul Tewatia 62 no) by five wickets. Group B: Tamil Nadu 314 (Dinesh Karthik 118; Ahish Nehra 4/39) beat Delhi 272 all out (D Shorey 57, Gautam Gambhir 51; W Antony Dhas 3/52) by 42 runs; Maharashtra 376 for 7 (Ruturaj Gaikwad 132; PP Jaiswal 2/82) beat Himachal Pradesh 351 all out (P Chopra 100; JP Zope 4/60, SS Mundhe 3/75) by 25 runs; Kerala 233 for 9 (Salman Nizar 82 not out; AK Sarkar 3/41) lost to Tripura 235 for 8 (Gurinder Singh 61; Krishna Kumar 2/36) by two wickets Group C: Mumbai 273 for 9 (Aditya Tare 83, Siddhesh Lad 64; Chirag Parmar 4/42) bt Gujarat 175 all out (Priyank Panchal 32; Shivam Malhotra 3/49) by 98 runs; Andhra Pradesh 225 for 8 (DB Ravi Teja 43; Pragyan Ojha 2/33, Anustup Majumdar 2/38) lost to West Bengal 226 for 6 in 48.5 overs (Shreevats Goswami 66, Anustup Majumdar 46 not out; D Swaroop Kumar 2/42) by four wickets; Rajasthan 212 all out (Ashok Bhudania 38; Puneet Datey 3/25) lost to Madhya Pradesh 213 for 7 (Harpreet Singh 45 not out; Puneet Yadav 2/10) in three wickets