Vijay Hazare Trophy Round-up | Elite Group A : Karnataka register 35-run win; Railways fall to their seventh defeat

Karnataka vs Himachal Pradesh

2014 winners Karnataka registered a 35-run victory over Himachal Pradesh via the VJD method at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore on Saturday. Intermittent rain reduced the match to a 38-over affair and Himachal Pradesh won the toss and opted to bowl first. The Manish Pandey-led side started strongly as opener Ravikumar Samarth displayed some good shot selection skills at the top order. After losing two wickets in quick succession, Pandey entered the field and helped steady the ship for his side. While Samarth fell short of a well-deserved century as he was dismissed for 98, Aniruddha Joshi (42 off 31) and Shreyas Gopal (13) led Karnataka to a total of 257/8. 

In response to that, Himachal Pradesh got off to a good start and found themselves placed at 121 for 3 in the 20th over when rain halted play.  Karnataka were all over their opponents once play resumed and reduced them to 138 for 7 in 22 overs. Pandey & Co. took another four overs to bowl them out for 162. Krishnappa Gowtham and Pradeep T starred for the southerners as they both picked up four-wicket hauls. 

Brief scores: Karnataka 257/8 in 38 overs (Ravikumar Samarth 98, Manish Pandey 43, Aniruddha Joshi 42; Rishi Dhawan 3-57) beat Himachal Pradesh 162 in 25.3 overs (Prashant Chopra 67; Pradeep T 4-35, Krishnappa Gowtham 4-26) by 35 runs (VJD Method).

Railways vs Vidarbha

In the second game of Elite group A in Alur, which was also a victim of rain, Vidarbha beat Railways by 15 runs by the VJD method. Vidarbha managed to restrict strugglers - Railways to 26 for 2 before rain stopped play. Upon resumption of play, skipper and opening batsman Saurabh Wakaskar kept his side in the game with a hard-fought half-century before being dismissed for 57. However, runs from the lower order batsman - Avinash Yadav, Madhur Khatri, ACP Mishra helped Railways finish with a score of 226/8.

Vidarbha were well on track at 62 for 2 before rain played spoilsport once again and interrupted play, as they still needed 165 runs for a win. Akshay Kolhar (41) first, and then Ganesh Satish (53*) and 'keeper Akshay Wadkar (49*) made sure that Vidarbha were way ahead of the required rate in case rain returned. And when it did return, Vidarbha were 176 for 3, and needed 51 off 78 balls. Vidarbha picked up all four points from there as extensive rains made it impossible for the resumption of play.

Brief scores: Railways 226/8 in 50 overs (Saurabh Wakaskar 57, Madhur Khatri 58; Darshan Nalkande 3-42) lost to Vidarbha 176/3 in 37 overs (Akshay Kolhar 41, Ganesh Satish 53*, Akshay Wadkar 49*) by 15 runs (VJD method).

Maharashtra v Mumbai

The much-anticipated game between table-toppers Mumbai and Maharashtra at the Just Cricket Academy in Bengaluru was abandoned without a ball being bowled due to rain. As a result of persistent rain, the toss of coin also didn't take place. Mumbai secured a quarter-final spot as they finished with 28 points from Group A, while Maharashtra are placed joint second with three other teams on 22 points.