Padikkal, Krunal shine with tons at Vijay Hazare Trophy in Surat

NEW DELHI: Skipper Krunal Pandya's unbeaten 133 formed the cornerstone of Baroda's 13-run win over Chhattisgarh in an Elite Group A game of the Vijay Hazare Trophy in Surat on Friday, even as AtitSheth blazed away to a 16-ball 51.

Opting to bat, Baroda rode on Pandya's hundred and Sheth's big-hitting to post 332/6 after a top-order failure, and then restricted the opposition to 319/9 to record their fourth win on the trot.

Baroda lost openers KedarDevdhar (12) and Smit Patel (13) cheaply and was teetering at 29/2. Medium pacer SourabhMajumdar (2/85) accounted for both the wickets.

It became 39/3 after Abhimanyusingh Rajput (5) perished cheaply but Vishnu Solanki (78 off 99 balls) and PradeepYadav (32) started the rescue act and added 53 runs for the fourth wicket.

After Yadav departed, in walked skipper Pandya, who was in his element and toyed with the Chhattisgarh attack.

The left-hander smashed 20 fours and three sixes in his whirlwind 100-ball knock while forging a 139-run stand for the fifth wicket with Solanki.

Chhattisgarh pegged Baroda back by taking two quick wickets, but Sheth, who walked in at number eight, smashed seven sixes while helping his team to a formidable total. Pandya and Sheth added 89 runs for the unbroken seventh wicket.

Chasing 333, Chhattisgarh lost opener ShashankChandrakar (12) early. Medium pacer BabashafiPathan (3/73) struck twice removing RishabTiwari (26) and Harpreet Singh Bhatia (14) as the batting side found itself in a spot of bother at 58/3.

But AmandeepKhare (67) and Ashutosh Singh (55) took the game deep with their 125-run fourth wicket stand.

However, skipper Krunal broke the partnership by removing Singh in the 35th over. And, in the next over, left-arm spinner NinadRathwa sent back Khare to leave them teetering at 185/5.

Shashank Singh (32) and Ajay Mandal (65 not out off 46 balls) added 48 runs as they inched towards the target, but the former was caught by KartikKakade off pacer AtitSheth when they still needed another 100 runs.

Brief Scores: Baroda 332/6 (KrunalPandya 133 not out; Vishnu Solanki 78; Shashank Singh 2/28, SourabhMajumdar 2/85) beat Chhattisgarh 319/9 (AmandeepKhare 67, Ajay Mandal 65 not out; BabashafiPathan 3/73, AtitSheth 2/67) by 13 runs.

Tripura 216 (Milind Kumar 68; LakshayGarg 5/42) lost to Goa 217/7 (KD Eknath 92, DarshanMisal 54 not out) by three wickets.

Gujarat 222/9 (Karan Patel 78, Het Patel 67; T Ravi Teja 4/45) beat Hyderabad 210 (TanmayAgarwal 54, B Sandeep 54) by 12 runs.

TN end Jharkhand's winning streak

Tamil Nadu on Friday ended Jharkhand's three-match winning streak with a convincing 67-run win in a Group B match of the Vijay Hazare Trophy in Indore.

In other matches, Punjab chased down a target of 291 against Vidarbha for a four-wicket win, while Madhya Pradesh handed Andhra a 98-run defeat.

Jharkhand is on top of the standings with 12 points, followed by Punjab, Andhra, Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh with eight points. Vidarbha lies in last place with 4 points.

After winning the toss, Tamil Nadu posted a competitive 266/7, thanks to half-centuries from opener B Aparajith (57), J Kousik (55) and Shahrukh Khan (51) and some lusty hitting by R Sai Kishore (29 not out) and M Mohammed (20).

Tamil Nadu appeared to have squandered a good start provided by Aparajith and N Jagadeesan (30) and were in a spot of bother at 131 for 5 in 34.4 overs.

However, Shahrukh (51 from 47 balls) and Kousik (55 from 40 balls) came to Tamil Nadu's rescue with a 50-run partnership for the sixth wicket. Kousik then added 55 runs with Sai Kishore for the seventh wicket.

A quickfire partnership between Sai Kishore and Mohammed, who smacked three sixes propelled Tamil Nadu to a competitive score.

In reply, Jharkhand suffered an early blow when skipper IshanKishan (0) was dismissed off the first ball of the innings by Aparajith.

Despite handy knocks by Virat Singh (49) and Sumit Kumar (40), Jharkhand lost wickets at regular intervals to slip to 145 for 9 as the TN bowlers kept a leash on the scoring. sNo.11 Rahul Shukla (42 not out, 25 balls, 3X4, 3X6) and Varun Aaron (18 not out) delayed the inevitable and made sure the team wasn't all out.

At Holkar Cricket Stadium, Prabhsimran Singh hammered 167 (140 balls, 13 fours, 9 sixes) to power Punjab to a four-wicket win over Vidarbha.

Brief scores: Tamil Nadu 266 for 7 in 50 overs (B Aparajith 57, J Kousik 55, Shahrukh Khan 51) beat Jharkhand 199 for 9 in 50 overs (Virat Singh 49, Rahul Shukla 42 not out) by 67 runs.

Vidarbha 290 for 9 in 50 overs (FaizFazal 101, Ganesh Satish 78, AkshayWadkar 63 not out, SiddharthKaul 4/54, HapreetBrar 4/43) lost to Punjab 294 for 6 in 47.5 overs (Prabhsimran Singh 167) by 4 wickets.

Madhya Pradesh 316 for 8 in 50 overs (RajatPatidar 102, Shubham Sharma 78) beat Andhra 218 all out in 42.3 overs (Nitish Kumar Reddy 59, Karan Shinde 47 not out, MihirHirwani 4/50) by 98 runs. Agencies

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