Vijay Hazare: Iyer's ton helps Mumbai beat Maharashtra

Mumbai rode on skipper Shreyas Iyer's unbeaten 103 to beat Maharashtra by six wickets in their Elite Group D game of the Vijay Hazare Trophy, in Jaipur, on Tuesday.

This was Mumbai's second successive win after they had beaten Delhi in the lung-opener.

Opting to bat first, Maharashtra posted 279/9, with centuries from Yash Nahar (119) and Azim Kazi (104) despite experienced Mumbai pacer Dhawal Kulkarni (5/44) running through their top-order.

But it was Iyer, who anchored the Mumbai chase and saw them home in 47.2 overs.

Maharashtra skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad (19) could not convert his start and was trapped in front of the wicket by Kulkarni.

Kulkarni then wreaked havoc as he dismissed Naushad Shaikh (0), experienced Kedar Jadhav (5) and Ankit Bawane (0) in quick succession as Maharashtra was reeling at 38/4 in 8.5 overs.

However, Nahar and number six batsman Kazi had other plans and they not only pulled the team out of the trouble but took them to a decent position with their 214 run-stand for the fifth wicket.

Nahar struck seven fours and sixes maximums in his 133 balls knock, while Kazi played the perfect second fiddle, as the duo took on the Mumbai bowlers led by India speedster Shardul Thakur (1/57), who played the game after being released from India squad.

Kazi hammered 12 boundaries and two sixes in his 118-balls innings.

When Nahar was run out by Shams Mulani, Maharashtra was poised at 6/264 and then were able to add only 15 runs.

Chasing 280, Mumbai openers Yashasvi Jaiswal (40) and Prithvi Shaw (34) conjured 67 for the first wicket.

Iyer, who walked in at three, was in his elements and hammered nine boundaries and one six, in his uneaten knock and after Jaiswal perished, he found able partners in Suryakumar Yadav (29), Shivam Dube (47) as they played their roles to perfection.

Dube took the game away from Maharashtra, with his hitting, smashing five fours and a six, and took Mumbai on the cusp of a win. The formalities were completed by Iyer alongside Sarfaraz Khan (15 not out).

Brief Scores: Maharashtra 279/9 (Yash Nahar 119, Azim Kazi 104; Dhawal Kulkarni 5/44, Shardul Thakur 1/57) lost to Mumbai 280/4 (Shreyas Iyer 103 not out, Shivam Dube 47; Satyajeet Bachhav 3/59) by six wickets.

Delhi 354/4 (Nitish Rana 137, Dhruv Shorey 132; Sagar Trivedi 2/66) beat Pondicherry 175 (S Suresh Kumar 42; Kulwant Khejroliya 4/32, Pradeep Sangwan 2/27) by 179 runs.

Rajasthan 199 (Mahipal Lomror 67, Arjit Gupta 45; Rishi Dhawan 6/27, Vaibhav Arora 1/24) lost to Himachal Pradesh 201/6 (Rishi Dhawan 73 not out, Prashant Chopra 39; A Singh 2/46, Ravi Bishnoi 2/60) by four wickets.

Chandigarh upset Bengal, climb to top of table

Chandigarh continued their giant-killing run in their Elite debut, stunning hosts Bengal by five wickets in a Vijay Hazare Group E clash at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.

Fresh from their win over neighbours Haryana, Chandigarh who were playing their second domestic season chased down Bengal's 253/9 with seven balls to spare to climb up to the top of the group table, ahead of Saurashra on net-run rate.

Saurashtra secured a thrilling one-wicket win over star-studded Haryana at the 22 Yards Academy in Saltlake.

Hosts Bengal, who made a group stage exit in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20s, dropped to third spot with one win and a loss.

Sent in, Bengal found themselves caught in a spin web of Chandigarh trio of Gaurav Gambhir (2/45), Bipul Sharma (2/50) and Gurinder Singh (2/47) as the hosts lost wickets at regular intervals to be restricted to 253/9.

The only bright spot in Bengal's lacklustre batting show was allrounder's Shahbaz Ahmed's 66-ball 59 that provided some stability in the middle before tailenders Akash Deep (25 not out from 13 balls) and Mukesh Kumar (16 from 15b) took the total past 250.

Chandigarh responded with a commanding opening partnership of 126 runs by the duo of Arslan Khan (88 from 95b; 9x4) and skipper Manan Vohra (45 from 68b; 3x4) before the in-form Shivam Bhambri took charge with an calm and composed 71 not out.

With Chandigarh going strong in their chase, Bengal made some inroads in the death overs by picking up three wickets for one run to see the visitors 230/5, needing 24 runs from 22 balls.

But Bhambri, who was scintillating form in the Syed Mushtaq Ali with three successive halfcenturies, held his nerve and sealed the chase with his unbeaten knock from 74 balls that had seven fours and one six.

Brief Scores: At Eden Gardens: Bengal 253/9; 50 overs (Shabaz Ahmed 59) lost to Chandigarh 257/5; 48.5 overs (Arslan Khan 88, Shivam Bhambri 71 not out, Manan Vohra 45) by five wickets.

At JU Second Campus, Saltlake: Services 274/7; 50 overs (Ravi Chauhan 118, Pulkit Narang 48 not out, Diwesh Pathania 42 not out) lost to Jammu & Kashmir 276/7; 48 overs (Shubham Khajuria 84, Abdul Samad 63, Shubham Pundir 56 not out) by three wickets.

At 22 Yards: Haryana 264; 50 overs (Chaitanya Bishnoi 84; Chetan Sakariya 3/63) lost to Saurashtra 265/9; 49.1 overs (Snell Patel 79, Arpit Vasavada 46) by one wicket. 

Jay Bista stars in Uttarakhand's second win in Plate group

Opener Jay Bista starred with a 61-ball 71 as Uttarakhand outplayed Manipur by seven wickets for their second consecutive win in the Vijay Hazare Trophy Plate Group in Chennai.

Sent in to bat, Manipur lost the openers Narisingh Yadav (2) and Al Bashid Muhammed (4) by the sixth over and the rest of the batsmen struggled against a disciplined bowling attack.

Left-arm spinner Mayank Mishra was the best of the Uttarakhand bowlers, returning figures of 2 for 18 from 10 overs while Akash Madhawal (2/27) and experienced left-arm spinner Iqbal Abdullah (2/32) too picked up two wickets each.

In reply, Bista continued his good form with a knock of 71 (8 fours, 2 sixes) to follow up his 141 on Sunday against Meghalaya to set up the win. He added 113 runs for the first wicket with Kamal Singh (41) and set the platform for Uttarakhand's win.

Assam also notched up their second win, beating Arunachal Pradesh by five wickets to join Uttarakhand at the top of the standings with eight points.

In another match, Mizoram went down by 29 runs to Nagaland despite tons by Pratik Desai (141) and Taruwar Kohli (108).

Brief Scores: Manipur 148 for 9 in 50 overs (Jayanta Sagatpam 32, L Kishan Singha 29, Mayank Mishra 2/18) lost to Uttarakhand 152 for 3 in 23.1 overs (Jay Bista 71, Kamal Singh 41) by seven wickets.
Uttarakhand: 4 points, Manipur: 0.

Meghalaya 319 for 7 in 50 overs (Punit Bist 116, R Sanjay Yadav 73 not out) beat Sikkim 231 for 9 in 50 overs (Ashish Thapa 79, Robin Bist 59, Dippu Sangma 2/33) by 88 runs.
Meghalaya: 4 points, Sikkim: 0.

Arunachal Pradesh 222 for 7 in 50 overs (Rahul Dalal 123 not out) lost to Assam 226 for 5 in 36.4 overs (Sibsankar Roy 60 not out, Denish Das 59, Saahil Jain 48, Rakesh Kumar 4/58) by five wickets.
Assam: 4 points, Arunachal: 0.

Nagaland 347 for 9 in 50 overs (Stuart Binny 80, R Jonathan 62, Varte Kima 5/66) beat Mizoram 318 for 6 in 50 overs (Pratik Desai 141, Taruwar Kohli 108, KB Pawan 40, Nagaho 2/30) by 29 runs.
Nagaland: 4 points, Mizoram: 0.