Jharkhand register big win to go 3rd
Assam and Jharkhand romped home to contrasting wins in their respective matches of Vijay Hazare Trophy in Kolkata on Saturday to go to the top three of Group B with 16 points from five matches each.
While Jharkhand crushed Meghalaya by 192 runs, Assam inflicted first loss on Karnataka as they beat the star-studded southern heavyweights by six wickets. With this win, Assam leapfrogged Karnataka (16 points from five games) to the top by virtue of better net run rate, while Jharkhand are on third spot.
At 22 Yard Salt Lake ground, asked to bat first, Karnataka rode Nikin Jose's ton, captain Mayank Agarwal's 64 and Manish Pandey's unbeaten 58 to score a formidable 296. In reply, Assam had a steady start against a formidable Karnataka bowling lineup thanks to opener Rahul Hazarika's 50 before Swarupam Purkayastha (102-ball 112) and Sibsankar Roy (66 off 49) took the northeast side home with an unbeaten 131-run stand for the fifth wicket in less than 15 overs. In the end Assam reached the target with 10 balls to spare.
Asked to bat first at Jadavpur University Campus second ground, opener Utkarsh Singh (128 off 143 balls, 12x4, 4x6) continued his superb form in the 50-over meet to notch his first century of this edition. Captain Virat Singh scored a blitzkrieg 111-ball 112 with 14 fours and one six and shared a huge 243-run stand for the second wicket with Utkarsh as Jharkhand amassed 321 for two.
Chasing a tall task, Meghalaya's top four batters went back to pavilion for just 10 runs in four overs and the match was over. Punit Bisht's 42-ball 50 at No. 5 was just for personal record and a consolation. Ultimately their innings folded for 129 runs in 41st over as Meghalaya lost their fifth match on the trot.
With 12 points and a net run-rate of +0.622, Delhi are now placed fourth in the group behind Assam (16 points, NRR +1.776), Karnataka (16 points, NRR +1.674) and Jharkhand (16, NRR +1.547), all of whom have four wins in their kitty.
Brief Scores:
Karnataka 296/4 (N Jose 100, M Agarwal 64, M Pandey 58). Assam 297/4 in 48.2 overs (S Purkayastha 112, S Roy 66). Assam won by 6 wickets
Jharkhand 321/2 (U Singh 128 n.o., V Singh 112). Meghalaya 129 in 40.3 overs (P Bisht 50; Vikash 3/17). Jharkhand won by 192 runs
