Pujara hits fifty to guide Saurashtra to victory in Vijay Hazare Trophy

India's Test specialist Cheteshwar Pujara and Arpit Vasavada hit half-centuries as Saurashtra registered a convincing 63-run victory over Maharashtra in the West Zone leg match of the Vijay Hazare Trophy in Ahmedabad.

Pujara (86) and Vasavada (96) put on 110 runs for the second wicket to lift Saurashtra to a huge 303 for five after they were put into bat by Maharashtra captain Rohit Motwani at the Sardar Patel Stadium B Ground in Motera.

Chasing the stiff target, Maharashtra could only score 240 for eight in their 50 overs to lose the inconsequential match.

Ankit Bawne struck an unbeaten 110 off 122 balls but his fine knock went in vain as none of his colleagues gave him support. Number nine batsman Anupam Sanklecha (38) was the second highest scorer for Maharashtra.

Both Saurashtra and Maharashtra failed to advance to the knockout round from West Zone.

Pujara was in complete control from the starts and rotated the strike well to score 89 from 86 balls with the help of just two boundaries while Vasavada's 87-ball knock had 12 fours and Sheldon Jackson contributed 53.

Brief Scores:

Saurashtra 303 for 5 in 50 overs (Cheteshwar Pujara 86, Arpit Vasavada 96; Domnic Joseph 2/56).

Maharashtra: 240 for 8 in 50 overs (Ankit Bawne 110 not out; Siddharth Trivedi 3/30).

Yadav, Iyer guide Mumbai to easy victory

Skipper Suryakumar Yadav overshadowed young Shreyas Iyer, who struck his maiden first-class ton, with a 45-ball unbeaten 81 as the duo guided Mumbai to a comfortable seven-wicket victory over Gujarat in the West Zone match of the Vijay Hazare Trophy in Ahmedabad, on Friday.

After being put into bat, Gujarat managed to put up 257 for seven in their 50 overs, but that did not prove to be enough with Mumbai completing the chase in 42.3 overs at Motera.

During the 100-plus match-winning partnership, 19-year-old Iyer made an unbeaten 105 off 110 balls, having hit five boundaries and four sixes.

While Iyer made a mark with his impressive effort, it was Yadav's assault that led to a quick finish as he slammed eight boundaries to go with his five sixes.

In the face of Yadav's aggression and Iyer's calculative approach, the Gujarat bowlers buckled and none of them could pose any sort of threat.

Batting at number three, the experienced Wasim Jaffer contributed 60 off 76 balls to steady Mumbai after the openers fell early.

Earlier, Rohit Dahiya top-scored for the hosts with an unbeaten 55 off a mere 26 balls, his innings comprising four sixes and as many fours.

Iqbal Abdullah and Saurabh Netravalkar picked up two wickets apiece for Mumbai.

Tomar's four helps Delhi edge past Services

Medium pacer Vikas Tokas claimed four wickets to help Delhi edge past Services by three wickets in the North Zone match of the Vijay Hazare Trophy One-Day tournament, in Dharamsala, on Friday.

After being set 147 for victory, Delhi made heavy weather of their chase by failing to get partnerships going but finally got their target in 34.4 overs.

Juggling with their opening combination in the tournament so far, Gambhir (4), who struck a fluent 93 in the last match, came in with Unmukt Chand (2) both perished cheaply to leave Delhi reeling on six for two.

Veteran Virender Sehwag, who also looked to be back in form after his smashing 80 in the previous game, threw away his wicket after a fluent 20.

The middle-order batsmen also withered away good starts to always give Services a ray of hope.

Rajat Bhatia brought all his experience into play with a patient innings of 34 to steer Delhi home.

Earlier electing to field, Delhi bowlers, led by the in-form Tokas, hurt Services by picking up regular wickets to bundle the Yashpal Singh-led side for a paltry 146 in 40.1 overs.

Pace spearhead Narwal started the rot by picking up Services opener Pratik Desai (19) and wicketkeeper-batsman Nakul Verma (0) off consecutive deliveries.

Left-armer Varun Sood also chipped in with a couple of wickets and sent back a dangerous-looking opener Devender Lochab (40).

But Tokas caused the maximum damage with the ball as he claimed his second consecutive four-wicket haul to follow up on four for 41 he had bagged in Delhi's previous win against Haryana by the same margin.

Delhi with three wins from five matches have a strong chance of progressing from their group while Services have won two and lost three of their five games.

Brief Scores:

Services 146 all out in 40.1 overs (Devender Lochab 40, Ashutosh Aman 22; Vikas Tokas 4-43)

Delhi 148/7 in 34.4 overs (Rajat Bhatia 34, Virender Sehwag 20; Suraj Yadav 2-23, Shadab Nazar 2-36, Nerender Singh 2-37).

Punjab secure knockout berth

Punjab sealed a berth in the knockout stage of theVijay Hazare Trophy after scoring a comfortable three-wicket victory over hosts Himachal Pradesh in their final North Zone group match, in Bilaspur, on Friday.

Opener Amitoze Singh hit a half-century while Gurkeerat Singh missed out his fifty by just one run as Punjab overhauled the 197-run target with 12 overs to spare at Luhnu Cricket Ground to finish on top of the points table.

Punjab (+0.557), Delhi (+0.428) and Himachal (+0.263) all ended the group stage with 12 points each but the first two teams qualified due to their better net run rate.

Earlier, Punjab bowlers did a splendid job to bowl out Himachal for a paltry 196.

Punjab medium pacer Blatej Singh rocked the Himachal top-order by dismissing opener Raghav Dhawan (15) and Ankit Kalsi (2).

Paras Dogra played a fighting 53-run knock off 84 balls while Nikhil Gangta (27) and Rishi Dhawan (42) also played a part in reviving the Himachal innings.

Sandeep Sharma (3/39) took three wickets for Punjab.

Image: Cheteshwar Pujara