CHANDIGARH: Haryana succumbed to their second successive defeat in the Vijay Hazare Trophy after going down to Saurashtra by five wickets in a low-scoring affair of Group C at the Sector-16 Stadium here on Thursday.
Put in to bat, Haryana's batting crumbled in pace-friendly conditions, and barring opener Chaitanya Bishnoi's 83-ball 41 and Amit Rana's 25 runs, the rest of the batting order went down like ninepins to be eventually shot out for a meagre 127 in 38.4 overs.
For Saurashtra, Dharmendrasinh Jadeja emerged the pick of the bowlers with four wickets, while Kushang Patel and Yuvraj Chudasama bagged a couple of scalps. Chetan Sakariya and Chirag Jani took one wicket each.
In response, Saurashtra were also off to a forgettable start, and at one point were 36 for 2 in 8.3 overs, before Sheldon Jackson (21) and skipper Arpit Vasava (38) put on a 46-run third wicket stand to stabilize the innings. Prerak Mankad (27 not out) then joined the party and took Saurashtra past the winning total in 27.1 overs.
For Haryana, leg spinner Yuzvendra Chahal and Amit Rana returned with a couple of wickets while Harshal Patel bagged one wicket.
Hyderabad floor Delhi
In another Group C match, Hyderabad rode on Tilak Verma's whirlwind 139 off 123 balls to outclass Delhi by 79 runs at the Punjab Cricket Association IS Bindra Stadium in Mohali.
Delhi's decision to field on a pitch that had the moisture for the faster bowlers did work as captain Pradeep Sangwan removed his opposite number Tanmay Agarwal for 3 runs. Centurion Tilak Verma came to the crease at that critical juncture, and started rebuilding the innings with a 49-run stand in the company of Akshath Reddy (34).
But it was the 152-run fourth wicket stand between Tilak and Chandan Sahani that left the Delhi bowlers searching for cover, with both the batters milking the bowling at ease. In the process, Tilak got to a magnificent century, laced with seven fours and eight sixes while Chandan got to a superb 74-ball 87, containing five fours and seven lusty hits out of the fence, which took the team to a commanding 325 for 6.
In reply, Delhi lost wickets at regular intervals, and barring Himmat Singh's 65-ball 47, and Anuj Rawat's 36, the other batters failed to convert their starts into bigger scores, to be eventually restricted to 246 for 9 in their 50 overs.
For Hyderabad, Tanay Thyagarajan picked three wickets, while Chama Milind and Kartikeya Kak took a couple of wickets each.
In the third match of the Group, Jharkhand thrashed Uttar Pradesh by eight wickets at the Mullanpur Stadium.
