Avesh Khan produced another stellar performance with a five-wicket haul to bowl defending champions Madhya Pradesh to a 205-run win over Vidarbha on the fourth and final day of their Group D match in Indore on Friday. Chasing 407 for victory, Vidarbha resumed at 13 for 1 with their hopes of pulling off an unlikely win resting on the shoulders of skipper Faiz Fazal. Fazal, who has played one ODI for the country, battled it out against the MP bowling line-up led by the speedy Avesh. He made 65 (193 balls, 8 fours) but it was not enough to prevent Vidarbha from going down.
Avesh, who had picked up seven wickets in Vidarbha’s first innings, dismissed Nachiket Bhute (12) for his first wicket of the day. Later, he sent back Atharva Taide (1). Puneet Datey struck a huge blow for the home team by trapping the reliable Ganesh Sathish for 5 to leave the opposition at 61 for 4.
Fazal found a steady partner in Akshay Wadkar (38) and the two kept the MP attack at bay for some 24 overs. Gaurav Yadav (4/61) broke through by having Wadkar caught by Rajat Patidar.
Fazal’s defiant innings ended with the score on 162 when Yadav had him caught by Patidar. Thereafter the MP kept at it by removing the other batters quickly despite Lalit Yadav’s 23 in which he hit four boundaries.
Avesh removed Lalit Yadav to a catch by ‘keeper Himanshu Mantri to end the Vidarbha resistance and secure six points for the team.
Easwaran remains unbeaten on 82 as Bengal-Uttarakhand match ends in draw
Abhimanyu Easwaran continued his fine form with an unbeaten on 82 in Bengal’s second innings as their Ranji Trophy Group A match against hosts Uttarakhand ended in a tame draw in Dehradun on Friday.
Easwaran, who hit 165 in the first innings at the ground named after him, continued from where he left and added 58 runs to his overnight score, while Sudip Kumar Gharami (72) made 48 more runs on Friday as Bengal declared their second innings at 206 for 7, setting Uttarakhand an improbable target of 322 runs.
The match ended in a stalemate as Uttarkhand made 69 for no loss in 23 overs in their second innings while chasing the target with openers Avneesh Sudha (54 not out0 and skipper Jiwanjot Singh (14 not out) remaining unbeaten.
Despite pocketing three points from the match by virtue of first innings lead, Bengal are placed second in Group A with 19 points from four games, whereas, Uttarakhand took home one point and are at the top of the table with 20 points from same number of matches.
The other Group A matches between Odisha and Nagaland, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh and Baroda and Himachal Pradesh also failed to produce a result.
But Odisha, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh pocketed three points from their matches on account of first innings lead while Nagaland, Uttar Pradesh and Baroda had to be content with one point each.
Karnataka beat Chhattisgarh by seven wickets, Goa shock Kerala
Medium-pacer Vijaykumar Vyshak came up with his maiden five-wicket haul in first-class cricket to set up Karnataka’s seven-wicket win over Chhattisgarh in a Ranji Trophy Group C match in Bengaluru.
Resuming day four on 35 for 2 and with a lot of work to do to save the match, Chhattisgarh were rocked by Vyshak’s superb effort. He struck the first blow of the day by removing the first innings centurion Ashutosh Singh for 18.
Only Amandeep Khare (50) and Mayank Verma (46) provided resistance as the other batters did not stay long enough at the crease.
Skipper Harpreet Singh Bhatia, the key in the Chhattisgarh batting line-up was bowled by K Gowtham (2/41) as the visiting team faltered.
Vyshak struck a crucial blow by bowling Khare. Later, he removed Shashank Singh, Ajay Mandal and Sourabh Majumdar to finish with 5 for 59.
Requiring 123 runs for a victory, Karnataka lost openers- captain Mayank Agarwal (14) and R Samarth (24). Highly-rated S J Nikin Jose followed up his first innings effort of 67 with a well-crafted 44 (59 balls, 1 four, 2 sixes) to see the team home.
In another match in Thiruvananthapuram, Goa upset Kerala by seven wickets thanks to an impressive bowling performance, especially off-spinner Mohit Redkar, who finished with 6 for 73 in the second innings.
Kerala was bundled out for 200 in the second innings, leaving Goa 155 for a win.
Ishan Gadekar (67 not out) and Siddhesh Lad (33 not out) saw Goa home with a 68-run fourth-wicket partnership.
Mumbai fail to force win against Tamil Nadu
Young Mumbai opener Yashasvi Jaiswal scored a quick-fire unbeaten half-century but the hosts still fell 74 runs short of securing an outright win against Tamil Nadu in their Ranji Trophy Group B match at the Brabourne Stadium on Friday.
Chasing 212 runs for a win on the final day, Mumbai managed 137 for 3 before the two captains signed peace and agreed for a draw after 24.2 overs.
Earlier, Tamil Nadu did well to add 168 runs to their overnight score of 380 for 4 and consume almost two full sessions to consolidate their position.
Pradosh Ranjan, unbeaten at 107 on day three, added 62 runs on Friday to take his score to 169. The other overnight batter Vijay Shankar batted patiently, consuming 174 balls for his workman-like 103, as the pair guided the visitors to a mammoth 548.
Chasing 212 with barely a session of play left, it was always going to be a tall order for Mumbai.
They started on a positive note with Prithvi Shaw and Jaiswal showing the intent to go after the target. Though Shaw departed early, caught by wicketkeeper Narayan Jagadeeshan off L Vignesh at 15 (17 balls), Jaiswal continued to score at a brisk pace.
But once Mumbai lost Armaan Jaffer and skipper Ajinkya Rahane in the space of five overs, their innings lost momentum, with Jaiswal remaining unbeaten at 66 off 60 balls.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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