Vijay Hazare Trophy: Ishan Kishan smashes 173 to help Jharkhand beat Madhya Pradesh by 324 runs – Firstcricket News, Firstpost

Indore:  Skipper Ishan Kishan smashed a blistering 173 off just 94 balls to lead Jharkhand to a massive 324-run victory over Madhya Pradesh in an Elite Group B game of the Vijay Hazare Trophy, on Saturday.

Invited to bat, Jharkhand posted a mammoth 422 for nine, shaped by Kishan’s whirlwind knock, and then bundled out the opposition for a meagre 98 in 18.4 overs, with pacer Varun Aaron (6/37) doing the bulk of the damage.

The 22-year-old left-handed Kishan single-handedly tore apart the MP attack, striking 19 fours and 11 sixes in his knock.

After Jharkhand lost opener Utkarsh Singh (6) early, Kishan conjured up a 113-run second-wicket stand with Kumar Kushagra (26) to lay the foundation for a big score.

Kishan, who opened the innings, continued playing his shots before being caught by Shubham Sharma off Gaurav Yadav.

Kishan reached his individual 50 in 42 balls, 100 in 74 balls and 150 in 86 balls.

Courtesy Kishan’s heroics, Jharkhand posted the highest total by an Indian domestic side.

Virat Singh (68 off 49 balls; 5×4, 3×6) and Sumit Kumar (52 off 58 balls, 5×4) also played their parts to perfection as all the MP bowlers had an off day in the field.

However, there was more action in store as all-rounder Anukul Roy smashed seven sixes and three fours in his 39-ball 72 and ensured that his team went past the 400-run mark.

Aaron wreaked havoc to leave Madya Pradesh tottering at 21 for five.

It was just a matter of time as they were eventually bundled out for 98 as their all top-order batsmen faltered.

 

Solanki hits ton as Baroda beat Goa by five wickets

Vishnu Solanki’s stroke-filled century and bowlers’ splendid show set up Baroda’s five wicket win over Goa in an Elite Group A game as they kicked off their Vijay Hazare Trophy campaign on a winning note.

Invited to bat at the Kholdvad Gymkhana ground, Baroda bundled out Goa for 263 and then chased the target with nine balls to spare as they rode on Solanki’s 108 off 132 balls and half centuries from skipper Krunal Pandya (71 off 77 balls) and opener Smit Patel (58 off 64 balls).

For Goa, Snehal Kauthankar top scored with a 100-ball 81, hammering six fours and two sixes after they lost openers Ishaan Gadekar (7) and Aditya Kaushik (7) early.

Baroda bowlers led by pacer Atit Sheth (3/50) and left-arm spinner Krunal Pandya (3/62) kept making in-roads even as Kauthankar did not get a steady partner.

Skipper Amit Verma (24), wicket-keeper KD Eknath (43), Suyash Prabhudessai (39), Darshan Misal (20) and Lakshay Garg (23) could not convert their starts into big scores.

Sheth and Krunal, were well complimented by pacer Lukman Meriwala (2/43), who was recently picked up by Delhi Capitals and all-rounder Babashafi Pathan (1/43).

Baroda lost opener Kedar Devdhar (0) early, but Smit Patel and Solanki rallied the innings with their 95-run stand for the second wicket to bring them back into the contest.

Solanki took on the Goa bowlers with utmost ease and hammered 12 fours and a six, and found an able ally in skipper Krunal, as they stitched a crucial 138-run stand for the third wicket.

Baroda lost Solanki and Krunal in quick succession, but Ninad Rathwa (10 not out) and Abhimanyusingh Rajput (6 not out) took them home in 48.3 overs.

Rinku stars as Uttar Pradesh stun holders Karnataka

Rinku Singh smashed an unbeaten 62 as Uttar Pradesh stunned defending champions Karnataka by nine runs via the VJD Method in their rain-truncated Vijay Hazare Trophy Group C opener.

Chasing 247 in the stipulated 50 overs, Uttar Pradesh had a slow start and were 150/4 in 32 overs, but then, the Kolkata Knight Riders left-hander took charge of the proceedings, hitting seven boundaries and one six in his 61-ball knock.

Rain halted play at 45.2 overs with UP placed at 215/4, which was nine runs more than the par score of 207, at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.

UP’s opening duo of Abhishek Goswami (54 off 67 balls) and Karan Sharma (40 off 74 balls) initially struggled to get going against the Karnataka new ball bowlers,

Abhimanyu Mithun and Prasidh Krishna, managing only nine runs in the first five overs.

The pair put on a century stand but they lost three wickets for nine runs as the defending champions looked to seize the momentum, But Rinku turned it around with his brisk half-century.

Put in, a depleted Karnataka, who were missing the services of K L Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Manish Pandey and K Gowtham, also got off to a slow start.

The promising Devdutt Padikkal (52 from 84 balls; 7×4) laid the foundation before No. 6 Aniruddha Joshi’s blazing 48-ball 68 (4×4, 6×4) propped up their total.

At Alur, veteran opener Robin Uthappa led Kerala’s chase of 259 runs with an explosive 85-ball 107 (10×4, 4×6) before rain stopped play in 38.2 overs with Kerala 233/4, which was above the par score as per the VJD Method.

In the second match at Alur, Railways thrashed Bihar by 10 wickets with openers Mrunal Devdhar (105 not out) and Pratham Singh (72 not out) taking 29 overs to cruise to a 190-run target.

Opting to bowl, Railways exploited the conditions beautifully as pacer T Pradeep rattled the top six batsmen to reduce Bihar to 64/6 in 13.3 overs on the way to his 6/43, before his new-ball parter Amit Mishra (3/30) cleaned up the tail to bundle out Bihar for 189 in 45.5 overs.

Brief Scores:
Jharkhand 422/9 (Ishan Kishan 173, Anukul Roy 72; Virat Singh 68; Gourav Yadav 4/73, Shubham Sharma 1/44) beat Madhya Pradesh 98 all out (Abhishek Bhandari 42; Venkatesh Iyer 23; Varun Aaron 6/37, Bal Krishna 2/8) by 324 runs.

Goa 263 all out (Snehal Kauthankar 81; K D Eknath 43; Atit Sheth 3/50; Krunal Pandya 3/62) lost to Baroda 264/5 (Vishnu Solanki 108, Krunal Pandya 71; Amit Verma 2-39, Amulya Pandrekar 1-35) by five wickets.

At C K Pithwala Ground: Hyderabad 349/5 (Tilak Verma 156 not out, Tanmay Agarwal 86; R A Dey 2/45, A S Sarkar 1/42) beat Tripura 236 (Milind Kumar 67, Bikram Kumar Das 65; C V Milind 5/43, B Sandeep 2/37) by 113 runs.

At Lalbhai Contractor Stadium: Chhattisgarh 231 all out (Shashank Chandrakar 92, Ashutosh Singh 47; Arzan Nagwaswalla 6/54, Chintan Gaja 2/50) lost to Gujarat 232/7 (Dhruv Raval 38, B H Merai 38; Veer Pratap Singh 2/38) by three wickets.

At M Chinnaswamy: Karnataka 246/8; 50 overs (Aniruddha Joshi 68, Devdutt Padikkal 52; Shivam Sharma 3/40) lost to Uttar Pradesh 215/4; 45.2 overs (Rinku Singh 62 not out, Abhishek Goswami 54, Karan Sharma 40) by nine runs (VJD Method).

At KSCA, Alur: Odisha 258/8; 45 overs (Sandeep Pattnaik 66, Gourav Coudhury 57, Kartik Biswal 45 not out) lost to Kerala 233/4; 38.2 overs (Robin Uthappa 107, Sachin Baby 40; Sourav Kanoja 3/43) by 34 runs (VJD Method).

At KSCA 2, Alur: Bihar 189; 45.5 overs (Anuj Raj 72, Shabbir Khan 46 not out; T Pradeep 6/43, Amit Mishra 3/30) lost to Railways 190 for no loss; 29 overs (Mrunal Devdhar 105 not out, Pratham Singh 72 not out) by 10 wickets.