Report

Shailender Gehlot blows Madhya Pradesh away for 48

A round-up of the action from the fourth day of matches in the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2011-12

ESPNcricinfo staff
23-Feb-2012

Central Zone

Railways fast bowler Shailender Gehlot took a career-best six wickets as Madhya Pradesh were blown away for 48 in Jamtha, Nagpur. Mahesh Rawat, the Railways wicketkeeper, finished with seven catches, one short of the List A record. Only Rameez Khan managed to get into double figures as Madhya Pradesh lasted 17.3 overs. Gehlot had figures of 9-2-20-6 and Krishnakant Upadhyay chipped in with three wickets. Railways knocked off the target in ten overs for the loss of one wicket.
Piyush Chawla picked up three wickets and made a half-century as Uttar Pradesh beat Rajasthan by six wickets in Nagpur. Chawla and Imtiyaz Ahmed restricted Rajasthan to 202 for 9 with three strikes apiece. Only Rashmi Parida (57) managed a score of note for Rajasthan with four batsmen falling after making twenties. Kaif added 82 for the second wicket with Tanmay Srivastava (40) and 91 for the fourth with Chawla (63), who hammered ten boundaries off 43 deliveries. Kaif was unbeaten on 79 as Uttar Pradesh won in the 39th over.

West Zone

Chirag Jani almost took Saurashtra to an improbable win on his List A debut at the Bandra Kurla Complex ground in Mumbai before Maharashtra prevailed by two runs. Chasing 310 for 5, Saurashtra were almost out of the match at 232 for 9 in the 43rd over, but No. 8 batsman Jani smashed ten fours and six sixes in racing to an unbeaten 98 off only 67 deliveries. Siddharth Trivedi, the No. 11, faced only nine balls during the last-wicket partnership as Jani went after Maharashtra. Jani's effort was to end in vain as Saurashtra ended on 308 for 9 in their 50 overs. Saurashtra opener Sagar Jogiyani's century, too, was ultimately for a losing cause but Rohit Motwani's and Ankit Bawne's tons weren't. Motwani (101) and Bawne (117) were involved in a double-century partnership as Maharashtra recovered from 35 for 2.
Mumbai's bowlers came back strongly as the hosts stopped Gujarat eight runs short of the target of 234 at Wankhede Stadium. Mumbai had former captain Wasim Jaffer to thank for lifting them from 111 for 7. With Iqbal Abdulla and Dhawal Kulkarni providing support down the order, Jaffer breezed to 104 off 119 deliveries to take Mumbai to 233 for 9. Gujarat's opening pair of Avi Barot (57) and Priyank Panchal (76) added 127 to put their side firmly in front. Abdulla brought Mumbai back into the game. He had Barot stumped in the 32nd over and trapped Niraj Patel lbw in the 34th. Ajit Agarkar removed Panchal and Manprit Juneja as Gujarat slipped to 155 for 5. Bhavik Thaker and Akshar Patel took the score past 200 but Agarkar bowled Thaker and Abdulla got Akshar. Gujarat needed 14 off the final over but managed only five to end on 225 for 9.

South Zone

Hyderabad surged to three wins in three games, chasing 311 successfully against Goa at the Rajinder Singh Institute Ground in Bangalore. The chase was fashioned by an unbeaten ton from opener and captain DB Ravi Teja, assisted by 70 from Akshath Reddy and a ballistic 66 not out off 27 balls from Ashish Reddy.
Hyderabad were under pressure when they lost their fifth wicket at 207 in the 37th over, but Ashish's belligerence meant the next 104 runs came in just 50 balls. Hyderabad were home with five overs to spare, an eventuality few would have predicted when Swapnil Asnodkar's 127 lifted Goa to a tall score. But the day was about to be seized by Ravi Teja (119* off 117) and his men.
Kerala sailed past Andhra's score of 278 for 9 in the 50th over at the Jain International Residential School Ground in Bangalore to register their first win in three games. In hindsight, they had Prasanth Parameswaran to thank. The seamer finished with incongruously incisive tally of 5 for 27 in his ten overs, including all the three maidens in the Andhra innings. Raiphi Gomez complemented him with figures of 10-0-35-1. Syed Sahabuddin and Venugopal Rao set up the base for Andhra with fifties, but the difference between an average score and a competent one came thanks to Gonnabattula Chiranjeevi's 53 off 47. Kerala's chase was anchored by Sachin Baby (78 off 90), while VA Jagadeesh, Sanju Samson and Karimuttathu Rakesh all contributed scores in the 40s. A series of frequent strikes meant Kerala's lower order had to step up, and Padmanabhan Prasanth did just that with 31 not out off 26 balls, as the game ended with two balls to spare.
Dinesh Karthik's 137 (132 balls, 18 fours, four sixes) helped Tamil Nadu brush aside Karnataka by a 62-run margin at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore. Asked to bat first, TN got off to a messy start thanks to Abhimanyu Mithun with Abhinav Mukund, S Anirudha and S Badrinath contributing just six runs between them. K Vasudevadas also failed to get going as TN slipped to a precarious 45 for 4. Ramaswamy Prasanna and Karthik steadied the ship with a 119-run stand that spanned the bulk of the middle overs. Karthik stepped up the scoring gradually, before L Balaji carted five fours in 28 off 18 balls. Balaji came back to wrap up Karnataka's chase with three wickets, but the significant damage was done by his new-ball partner K Jesuraj. Robin Uthappa smacked 35 off 28 balls, but the innings floundered gradually following his contribution. SN Raju's 46 narrowed the margin of defeat, but TN still got the bonus point.