Mumbai beat defending champs Gujarat

Cheni, Feb 25: Half-centuries by Aditya Tare and Siddhesh Lad coupled with an excellent bowling performance eble Mumbai to defeat defending champions Gujarat by 98 runs in a Group C match of the Vijay Hazare Trophy here on Saturday. Asked to bat first, Mumbai notched up 273/9 in their alotted 50 overs. Tare top scored with 83 runs off 81 balls which included 13 hits to the fence.

Lad scored 64 runs, hitting two boundaries and five towering sixes during his 60-ball essay.

Coming together with Mumbai struggling at 85/4, the duo produced a 117-run partnership over 20 overs to stabilise the innings.

Gujarat pacer Chirag Parmar brought the partnership to an end by dismissing Tare in the 38th over before claiming Lad's wicket in his very next over.

Shardul Thakur and Abhishek yar also went back in quick succession as the Mumbai innings ran into trouble.

However, Aditya Dhumal hit an unbeaten 32 to help Mumbai recover to some extent.

Parmar ended up with figures of 4/42 while fellow pacers Jasprit Bumrah and Rohit Dahiya clinched a couple of wickets each.

In reply, openers Priyank Panchal and Parthiv Patel handed Gujarat a brisk start before Mumbai pacer Shivam Malhotra struck twice in the sixth over.

Panchal and Manprit Juneja tried to bring the innings back on track but the Mumbai bowlers maged to restrict the scoring rate. The duo soon went back to the pavilion in quick succession following Gujarat started to lose wickets at regular intervals. IANS