Maharashtra captain Ruturaj Gaikwad is in the form of his life at the moment. The right-handed batsman on Saturday notched up his third hundred consecutive in the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy against Kerala in Rajkot.
Batting first, Maharashtra lost a couple of early wickets and were reduced to 22/2 when Gaikwad and Rahul Tripathi joined hands to steady the ship for the side. The two batters stitched a stand of 195 runs for the third wicket. While Gaikwad went on to score 124 off 129, Tripathi missed out on a Tony just one run as he was dismissed for 99.
No other batsmen really got into the groove and Maharashtra could only manage to put 291/8 in 50 overs. Nidheesh was the pick of the bowlers for Kerala after he returned with a five-wicket haul during the course.
In reply, Kerala had a dismal start to the chase as they lost a few early wickets and were left tottering at 35/4 before Jalaj Saxena and Sanju Samson provided the resistance with a 72-run stand for the fifth wicket. But Samson’s departure for 42 off 35 once again broke the shackles as Saxena followed the captain soon to get dismissed for 44 off 54, leaving the side struggling at 120/6.
But what unleashed next was simply a masterclass from Vishnu Vinod and Sijomon Joseph. The two batsmen came in for the rescue and built an unbeaten partnership of 174 for the seventh wicket to anchor the team home. Vinod scored 100* off 82 while Joseph struck 70-ball 71*.
UP vs Delhi
Uttar Pradesh thoroughly dominated Delhi in Chandigarh on Saturday after clinching a win by 9 wickets. Chasing 244 in 50 overs, UP rode on brilliant batting performances from Madhav Kaushik and Aryan Juyal to get over the line.
Kaushik and Juyal started off the chase in a scintillating manner as they put on 184 for the first wicket before Kaushik departed for a well-compiled 89 off 101.
But UP didn’t lose any further wickets as Juyal completed his hundred and remained unbeaten at 120 of 134 while Karan Sharma who had come in at number scored 31* off 29.
Earlier, the UP bowlers and especially Shivam Mavi didn’t give the Delhi batting unit the upper hand. Mavi picked up four wickets as Delhi were bowled out for 243 in 49 overs.
Tamil Nadu vs Bengal
Tamil Nadu’s middle-order and the bowling unit handed them a comfortable 136-run win over Bengal in Thiruvananthapuram on Saturday.
Batting first, Tamil Nadu lost some early wickets but half-centuries from Baba Indrajith, Karthik and Kousik and a late surge from Shahrukh Khan who chipped in with 32 off 12 helped the side put 295/8 in 50 overs.
Later, the Tamil Nadu bowlers ripped through the Bengal batting lineup and bundled them out for 149. R Silambarasan picked up four wickets for 28 in 6.1 overs.
Madhya Pradesh vs Uttarakhand
Madhya Pradesh’s Venkatesh Iyer once again impressed one and all with his all-around show. Batting first, MP posted 330/7 in 50 overs, courtesy of a century from Abhishek Bhandari and fifties from Iyer and Shubham Sharma. Iyer struck a 49-ball 71 during the course.
Later, the Madhya Pradesh bowlers didn’t really let Uttarakhand batters take the upper hand and they were eventually restricted to 253/9 where Iyer returned with figures of 2/58 in 10 overs.
Other Results
Rajasthan beat Railways by 6 wickets
Services beat Goa by 1 wicket
Punjab beat Assam by 10 wickets
Andhra beat J&K by 2 wickets
Tripura beat Sikkim by 8 wickets
Bihar beat Nagaland by 138 runs
Meghalaya beat Manipur by 111 runs
Mizoram beat Arunachal Pradesh by 5 wickets
Chhattisgarh beat Chandigarh by 44 runs
Himachal Pradesh beat Gujarat by 97 runs
Odisha beat Vidarbha by 6 wickets
Baroda beat Puducherry by 5 wickets
Karnataka beat Mumbai by 7 wickets
Saurashtra beat Hyderabad by 7 wickets
Haryana beat Jharkhand by 28 runs