Report

Mumbai, Bengal open with wins

A round-up of the Group C games on the opening day of the Vijay Hazare Trophy

File photo - Aditya Tare resurrected Mumbai's innings with 83 off 81 balls  •  BCCI

File photo - Aditya Tare resurrected Mumbai's innings with 83 off 81 balls  •  BCCI

Fifties from Aditya Tare and Siddhesh Lad helped Mumbai recover from 85 for 4 and post 273, a total that proved 98 too many for Gujarat at Chepauk. Asked to bat, Mumbai lost wickets at regular intervals before a 117-run fifth-wicket stand between Tare and Lad put them back on course. Tare's 83 came off 81 balls and included 13 fours, and Lad struck 64 off 60 balls with two fours and five sixes. Chirag Parmar, on List A debut, took 4 for 42. In reply, Gujarat slid after an opening stand of 30 as they were bowled out for 175 in the 42nd over. Shivam Malhotra took three wickets.
Shreevats Goswami anchored Bengal's successful chase of 226 with a 110-ball 66 against Andhra. Bengal won by four wickets with seven balls remaining. When Goswami was dismissed, Bengal still required 74 off 15 overs. They knocked off the runs with valuable contributions from Anustup Majumdar (46) and captain Monoj Tiwary (38). Bengal's win, though, was set up by a strong bowling performance, as they restricted Andhra to 225 for 8. Dwaraka Ravi Teja top-scored with 43 off 69. Ashoke Dinda, Pragyan Ojha and Majumdar chipped in with two wickets each.
Harpreet Singh's unbeaten 45 steered Madhya Pradesh's chase of 213 against Rajasthan. MP chased down the target with three wickets in hand and 60 balls to spare. After being asked to bat, Rajasthan slid to 212 all out as their batsmen could not convert their starts. Opening batsman Ashok Bhudania top-scored with 38, but ate up 87 balls in doing so. Pacers Puneet Datey and Chandrakant Sakure picked up three wickets each, with the former giving away just 25 runs in his 10 overs for his career-best returns. MP lost Mukul Raghav early in the chase, but partnerships of 89 between Rajat Patidar (38) and Naman Ojha (33) for the second wicket, and Harpreet and Anand Bais (20) for the fourth revived them. They lost wickets frequently after the two partnerships, but Harpreet held up his end, and in the company of Datey, saw the team through.