Pradeep shines with bat in Andhra's last-ball win over Goa
A round-up of the Group C matches from the Vijay Hazare Trophy held on March 1, 2017
ESPNcricinfo staff
01-Mar-2017
Andhra staved off a doughty 83 from Snehal Kauthankar to snatch a three-run win against Goa off the last ball in Chennai. Batting at No. 4 in Goa's chase of 229, Kauthankar's 98-ball effort hauled Goa from 122 for 6 in the 36th over to 216 in the 49th over, before he was dismissed by medium-pacer Bandaru Ayyappa. Goa needed 12 runs off the last over, bowled by Paidikalva Vijaykumar, and they got eight of those before a run-out off the last ball ended the innings. Kauthankar found support from Saurabh Bandekar, Shadab Jakati (22) and Amulaya Pandrekar, as he rallied the chase. His innings included four fours and two sixes. Left-arm spinner Bhargav Bhatt and legspinner Dasari Swaroop Kumar took three wickets each.
Earlier, AG Pradeep struck an unbeaten 115 off 111 balls to guide Andhra to 228, although they were limited by a clutch of wickets in the slog overs. Medium-pacer Felix Alemao was the best bowler for Goa with returns of 3 for 42.
Sudip Chatterjee's 85 not out off 100 balls helped Bengal clinch a two-wicket win over Rajasthan in Chennai, with a successful chase of 275. Coming into bat in the 16th over after a 109-run opening partnership between Shreevats Goswami and Abhimanyu Easwaran, Chatterjee shepherded the chase through a period when they lost two wickets in successive overs and through a slump towards the slog overs, when Bengal lost four wickets for 42 runs.
Rajasthan were propped up by opener Dishant Yagnik's second List A century - 100 off 137 balls - and at one stage had looked good to post a total in excess of their eventual 274 for 9. They were 182 for 2 in the 39th over but lost their next five wickets for 41 runs. Tajinder Singh's 11-ball 37, which included four fours and three sixes, pushed the total past 250.
Gujarat eased to a four-wicket win with 41 balls to spare after their bowlers had restricted Madhya Pradesh to 213 for 9 in Chennai. Gujarat's chase was spearheaded by Priyank Kirit Panchal's 78-ball 53, complemented by Bhargav Merai's 45. Both Merai and Panchal fell within a few overs of each other, before Rujul Bhatt and Rohit Dahiya sealed the win with an unbeaten 45-run partnership for the sixth wicket.
All five of Gujarat's bowlers were among wickets as MP struggled to 213 for 9. While most of the batsmen got starts, only Naman Ojha (30) and Shubham Sharma (40) went on to put up scores of more than 30. Knocks from Sohraab Dhaliwal (26), Ankit Sharma (24) and Puneet Datey (29 not out) also helped the side recover from 107 for 5.