Gujarat into knockouts after brushing past Kerala
A round-up of the Vijay Hazare Trophy Group B matches played on December 18, 2015
ESPNcricinfo staff
18-Dec-2015
File photo - Vinay Kumar smashed an unbeaten 51 off 20 balls, with three fours and five sixes • PTI
Gujarat joined Jharkhand in the knockouts from Group B after brushing past Kerala by seven wickets. Gujarat and Jharkhand finished with 20 points each from six games. Having chosen to bowl, Gujarat bowled Kerala out for 102, with Axar Patel picking up three wickets and Rush Kalaria, Rohit Dahiya and Jasprit Bumrah taking two each. For Kerala, it was a second successive batting failure, having been shot out for 49 by Karnataka on Thursday. Sachin Baby (41) was their only batsman to cross 15.
Gujarat had a slight wobble when they lost both their openers in the space of two overs - with only one run coming between the two dismissals - to slip to 21 for 2. But the target was modest, and Himayala Barad (24), Rujul Bhatt (35*) and Chirag Gandhi (20*) ensured they got there comfortably, with 17.1 overs remaining.
The result ended the qualifying hopes of defending champions Karnataka, even though they ended their campaign with a 207-run thumping of Jammu and Kashmir. Sent in to bat, Karnataka powered their way to an imposing 349 for 5, riding on the back of a CM Gautam's unbeaten 102-ball 109. Gautam added 145 for the fifth wicket with Manish Pandey (79 off 70 balls), and 91, off only 37 balls, with Vinay Kumar, who smashed an unbeaten 51 off 20 with three fours and five sixes.
Chasing 350, J&K made a poor start, losing both their openers within the first four overs. Bandeep Singh (42) and Ian Dev Singh (35) kept them interested for a while with third-wicket stand of 78 at 8.06 runs per over, but collapsed after Sreenath Aravind dismissed both of them in the same over. J&K lost their last eight wickets for 50 runs, their innings ending as early as the 28th over.
Karn Sharma's five-wicket haul helped Railways end their campaign with a 106-run win over Haryana. Chasing 220, Haryana were bowled out for 113, inside 36 overs, as the legspinner Karn finished with figures of 5 for 13 in 9.1 overs. Only Nitin Saini (20) and Rohit Sharma (26) got past 20 among the Haryana batsmen.
Sent in to bat, Railways made 219 for 7 in their 50 overs, with Arindam Ghosh anchoring their innings with a 118-ball 76. Ghosh struck five fours and a six, and added 77 with Karn (29) for the fifth wicket.
