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Easwaran's 127 gives Bengal fourth consecutive win

A round-up of the Group C matches of the Vijay Hazare Trophy played on March 3, 2017

File Photo - Naman Ojha hit six fours and six sixes  •  BCCI

File Photo - Naman Ojha hit six fours and six sixes  •  BCCI

Opener Abhimanyu Easwaran's hundred helped Bengal cruise to their fourth consecutive win and consolidate their position at the top of the Group C points table. After Easwaran's 127 lifted Bengal to 230, the bowlers shot out Mumbai for 134 in 36.2 overs at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
Easwaran, who struck his third List A century, held firm even as wickets tumbled around him. Seamers Shardul Thakur and Abhishek Nayar did the bulk of the damage, claiming combined figures of 18.5-1-82-7. Easwaran, however, stitched fifty partnerships with Anustup Majumdar and Aamir Gani before he was the seventh Bengal batsman to be dismissed.
Mumbai lost their openers within five overs and were seven down by the time they reached 100. Seamer Sayan Ghosh and left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha ripped through the batting line-up with three wickets each. Shreyas Iyer top-scored with 34 and while Siddhesh Lad (23) and Aditya Tare (20) got starts, Mumbai's chase never really took off.
Andhra suffered a batting collapse to fold for 106 as Gujarat thumped them by 182 runs in Chennai. Captain Parthiv Patel was Gujarat's hero, hitting 104 off 123 balls, including 11 fours. Rohit Dahiya played the sidekick with an unbeaten 39-ball 53 as Gujarat put up 288 for 7. Jasprit Bumrah (4 for 29) and Rujul Bhatt (3 for 21) then wrecked Andhra's chase and bundled them out in 31.5 overs.
Dwaraka Ravi Teja, coming in at 39 for 5, provided the lone source of resistance with 44 off 64 balls. In fact, he was the only Andhra batsman to pass 10.
Having been sent in, Gujarat lost Priyank Panchal early, but Parthiv shared useful stands with Samit Gohel and Bhargav Merai to set a solid platform. By the time Parthiv was dismissed, Gujarat had reached 200. Jesal Karia and Dahiya then struck late blows to take their team past 280.
Madhya Pradesh needed only 38.1 overs to chase down 291 against Goa in Chennai. Captain Naman Ojha powered the chase with an unbeaten 87-ball 105. He was well supported by Rajat Patidar (64 off 53 balls) and Harpreet Singh (83 off 60 balls) as MP completed their chase with seven wickets in hand.
Ojha and Rajat Patidar laid the foundation with a 92-run opening stand off 83 balls. Ojha and Harpreet then pressed on to add 116 in 15.1 overs. Ojha struck six sixes and six fours en route to his eighth List A century.
Goa had rebounded to reach 290 after being reduced to 23 for 2. Their captain Sagun Kamat (63 off 75 balls) and Suyash Prabhudessai (52 off 47 balls) hit half centuries, but it was Snehal Kauthankar's 110-ball 94 that led Goa's batting. Playing his fourth List A game, Kauthankar made his career-best score, but late wickets prevented Goa from reaching 300. Ankit Kushwah was the pick of the bowlers for MP, finishing with 5 for 60.