CHANDIGARH: Chandigarh succumbed to their third successive defeat in the Vijay Hazare Trophy after going down to Chhattisgarh by 44 runs in a Group D encounter in Rajkot on Saturday.
Electing to bat on a placid turf, Chhattisgarh rode on fine centuries from skipper Harpreet Singh (113) and opener Sanjeet Desai (106) to pile up a mammoth 302 for 4 in their 50 overs, before Sourabh Majumdar starred with the ball to return with four wickets and restrict Chandigarh to 258 runs in 48.2 overs.
Chhattisgarh recovered from the early loss of opener Akhil Herwadkar (8), thanks to a whirlwind 181 runs second wicket partnership between Sanjeet and Harpreet. Both Sanjeet and Harpreet tormented the Chandigarh bowlers, dispatching them all over the park. With very little assistance from the pitch, the bowlers found it hard to stop the flow of runs, and in the course, the Chhattisgarh duo took full control over the proceedings.
While Sanjeet consumed 126 balls for his knock that was laced with 10 hits to the fence and three over it, the skipper's classy innings took 119 deliveries, and contained 9 fours and a six. Left-arm spinner Gurinder Singh finally managed to break the deadlock with the wicket of Sanjeet, before Devinder Singh paced the skipper back for his second wicket.
Thereafter, Shashank Singh (36) and Amandeep Khare (20) batted with equal aggression to take Chhattisgarh past the 300-run mark.
In reply, Chandigarh failed to get to the start they would have liked, as opener Sarul Kanwar failed to repeat his feat of the previous match against Uttarakhand. Sarul had hit 97 runs on Thursday. However, skipper Manan Vohra (77) played a quality innings to ensure that the opportunity wasn't wasted. With Shivam Bhambri (25), Manan raised 50 runs for the second wicket, before joining hands with wicketkeeper Arpit Pannu (54) for another 104-run third wicket stand that almost kept Chandigarh on the hunt.
However, both Manan and Arpit departed in quick succession, leaving Chandigarh reeling at 167 for 4, and the responsibility of getting past the target on the shoulders of Ankit Kaushik (32) and Kunal Mahajan (30). The duo didn't disappoint and was engaged in a 54-run fifth wicket partnership but their dismissals almost ended Chandigarh's hopes as the lower order failed to capitalize on the quality start.
For Chhattisgarh, Sourabh (4/52) and Sumit Ruikar (3/46) were the pick of the bowlers.
Brief Scores
Chhattisgarh 302/4; 50 overs (Harpreet Singh 113, Sanjeet Desai 106) beat Chandigarh 258; 48.2 overs (Manan Vohra 77, Arjit Pannu 54; Sourabh Majumdar 4/52, Sumit Ruikar 3/46) by 44 runs
