Vijay Hazare Trophy 2019-20: Round 9, Elite Group A & B and C - Round up

Sunday had just four games to offer in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, but each turned out to be pretty interesting in its own way. Rahul Singh’s breathtaking century helped Services brush aside Jammu & Kashmir, whilst Haryana and Punjab’s game saw less than 100 runs score on aggregate and interestingly, the game was pretty closely-fought by both sides. 

Haryana batted first against Punjab having won the toss earlier. Senior pacers Sandeep Sharma and Siddarth Kaul ran riot on the day as their spell saw Haryana get bundled out for 49 runs. Sandeep Sharma was the destroyer in chief, picking up 7 wickets and giving away just 19 runs. Kaul picked up three wickets as only two Haryana batsmen could register a double-digit score.

One would’ve expected Punjab to get those runs as quickly and easily, but Ajit Chahal had other ideas. He picked up some early wickets and put Punjab on the back foot. Abhishek Sharma kept battling one end whilst the others kept losing their wickets cheaply. Eventually, it took them 15.1 overs to get to the 50 runs and they lost 7 wickets. 

Mukund and Aparijith steer Tamil Nadu to a big win

Abhinav Mukund and Baba Aparajith scored half-centuries as Tamil Nadu posted a brilliant 315 runs batting first. Dinesh Karthik played a brilliant hand to help his side finish in style. Tripura were never in the game and struggled to cope with Tamil Nadu’s quality and ended up bundling out for 128 runs in 34.3 overs. Natarajan picked up 3 wickets for Tamil Nadu.

In what turned out to be the game of the Sunday, Rajasthan and Railways played out a tie. Arjit Gupta scored a 104-ball 90, helping Rajasthan score 206 runs batting first. Himanshu Sangwan and Ananta Saha did the bulk of the damage with the ball for the bowling unit. 

In reply, Railways looked in a good position to chase the total down. Dinesh More scored a half-century and it seemed like he would take his side home. But some fabulous death bowling from the Rajasthan bowlers stalled a win for the Railways and helped both sides win a point each. Abhimanyu Lamba bowled an outstanding spell, picking up four wickets in his 10 overs and giving away just 15 runs. 

Brief Scores

Elite Group A & B

Punjab vs Haryana

Haryana: 49 all out in 16.1 overs (Sandeep Sharma 7/19, Siddarth Kaul 3/29)

Punjab: 50/7 in 15.1 overs (Abhishek Sharma 22*; Ajit Chahal 4/32)

Punjab won by 3 wickets 

Elite Group C

Jammu & Kashmir vs Services

J&K: 189 all out in 48.3 overs (Paras Sharma 49, Diwesh Pathania 4/39)

Services: 190/3 in 34.1 overs (Rahul Singh 124*, Rajat Paliwal 49)

Services won by 7 wickets 

Tamil Nadu vs Tripura

Tamil Nadu: 315/8 in 50 overs (Abhinav Mukund 84, Baba Aparajith 87, Dinesh Karthik 40)

Tripura: 128 all out in 34.3 overs (Pratyush Singh 24; T Natarajan 3/22) 

Tamil Nadu won by 187 runs 

Rajasthan vs Railways

Rajasthan: 206 all out in 47.4 overs (Arjit Gupta 90; Himanshu Gupta 4/44, Ananta Saha 3/51)

Railways: 206/8 in 50 overs (Dinesh More 92*; Himanshu Lamba 4/15)

Match tied