All-rounder Venkatesh Iyer continued his sensational form with both bat and ball as Madhya Pradesh pipped Chandigarh by five runs in a high-scoring group D thriller of the Vijay Hazare Trophy in Rajkot on Sunday.
Iyer, who is seen as a India prospect to fill in the Hardik Pandya slot across white-ball formats, blazed his way to a 113-ball 151 (8x4, 10x6) to power Madhya Pradesh to a challenging 331/9.
Chandigarh responded in style with centuries from skipper Manan Vohra (105) and Ankit Kaushik (111) and needed 32 runs from the last 12 balls.
Bowling the penultimate over, Iyer gave another breakthrough dismissing Gurinder Singh en route to his 2/64 from 10 overs that included a maiden as Chandigarh could only manage 326/8.
Madhya Pradesh young gun Avesh Khan led the bowling show with 3/72, while Puneet Datey also chipped in with two wickets along with Iyer.
The southpaw Iyer displayed some clean hitting and reached his half-century in 45 balls and then stepped it up further to get to his third List A century, his second in three matches, in just 88 balls.
He took just 22 balls to cruise to 150 and take Madhya Pradesh past the 300-mark. The 26-year-old now has 348 runs from four innings at a strike-rate of 138.64 to be second behind Maharashtra’s Ruturaj Gaikwad in the highest run-getters’ list.
Gujarat, Andhra secure wins
Mumbai: Opener Saurav Chauhan hit eight sixes in his 141 off 121 balls while keeper Het Patel struck an unbeaten 109 as Gujarat beat Vidarbha by 46 runs in a high-scoring contest.
In reply, Vidarbha could manage only 317 in 48.3 overs with veteran Ganesh Sathish smashing 110 off 78 balls. Pacer Chintan Gaja got three for 49 while spinner Siddharth Desai also took three wickets.
In another match, India's reserve keeper Srikar Bharat smashed 161 off 109 balls with 16 fours and eight sixes as Andhra scored 322 for 4 against Himachal Pradesh, who ended their innings at 292.
Brief Scores:
Gujarat 363/6 in 50 overs (Saurav Chauhan 161, Het Patel 109 not out, Darshan Nalkande 2/92) beat Vidarbha 317 in 48.3 overs (Ganesh Sathish 110, Chintan Gaja 3/49) by 46 runs.
Andhra 322/4 (Srikar Bharat 161, Ashwin Hebbar 100) beat Himachal Pradesh 292 (Rishi Dhawan 79, Girinah Reddy 4/52) by 30 runs.
Jammu and Kashmir 278/9 (Henan Nazir 79, Biplab Samantray 2/15) beat Odisha 183 (Abhishek Raut 40, Mujtaba Yousuf 2/34) by 95 runs.
Stunning win for Pondicherry; Mumbai falter again
Thiruvananthapuram: Unfancied Pondicherry pulled off an upset one-run win over Tamil Nadu while Karnataka beat Baroda for their third victory.
Chasing a revised target of 206 in 44 overs under VJD method, Tamil Nadu ended at 204 for 9 despite enterprising half-centuries by skipper N Jagadeesan (64) and Dinesh Karthik (65) and fell agonizingly short by 1 run.
Defending champions Mumbai lost to Bengal by 67 runs via the VJD method used for domestic matches and face an early elimination from the tournament. The team led by Shams Mulani has only one win after four matches and is virtually out of contention for the next phase.
In another match, Karnataka beat Baroda by six wickets (VJD method) to make it three wins from four matches and improve their chances of securing a berth in the knockout phase.
In the Bengal versus Mumbai contest, the former had piled up 318 for 7 in 50 overs, thanks to enterprising tons by Anustup Majumdar (110, 122 balls, 14x4) and Shahbaz Ahmed (106, 97 balls, 8x4, 4x6) following which the Mumbai batters could not get going and fell well short of the target.
India batter Suryakumar Yadav hit a breezy 49 (34 balls, 6 fours, 1 six) and Armaan Jaffer made 47 (69 balls, 4x4, 1x6) but their other team-mates could not make any significant contributions.
Mumbai finished at 223 for 8 in 41 overs when rain halted play and ended their hopes. Karnataka join Tamil Nadu on 12 points with three victories.
Brief Scores:
Bengal 318 for 7 in 50 overs (Anustup Majumdar 110, Shahbaz Ahmed 106, Mohit Avasthi 4/63) beat Mumbai 223 for 8 in 41 overs (Surya Kumar Yadav 49, Armaan Jaffer 47, Shams Mulani 36, Pradipta Pramanik 3/33) by 67 runs (VJD method). Bengal: 4 points, Mumbai: 0.
Pondicherry 225 for 9 in 49 overs (Fabid Ahmed 87*,Washington Sundar 5/48) beat Tamil Nadu 204 for 9 in 44 overs (Dinesh Karthik 65. N Jagadeesan 64, Fabid Ahmed 2/22, Bharat Bhusan Sharma 2/33) by one run (VJD method). Pondicherry: 4 points, TN: 0.
Baroda 176 all out in 48.3 overs (Bhanu Pania 40, Kedar Devdhar 31, K C Cariappa 3/28, Vasuki Koushik 3/38) lost to Karnataka 150 for 4 in 38.4 overs (KV Siddharth 46 not out, R Samarth 35) by 6 wickets (VJD method). Karnataka: 4 points, Baroda: 0.
Sidhu’s ton propels Delhi
Chandigarh: Former India U-19 captain Jonty Sidhu hit a run-a-ball hundred while skipper Pardeep Sangwan grabbed a five wicket haul as Delhi beat Haryana by 10 runs in a Group C encounter.
Delhi scored 267 for 5 in their 50 overs with Sidhu hitting eight fours and three sixes while adding 145 runs for the fifth wicket with former Delhi Capitals player Lalit Yadav (75 off 92 balls).
In reply, Haryana were all out for 257 in exactly 50 overs with Shivam Chauhan, who scored a hundred (107 off 136 balls), and Pramod Chandila (78) adding 166 runs for the fourth wicket.
Haryana were cruising along at 236 for 3 before Sangwan (5/52) and Mayank Yadav (3/61) removed the last seven wickets for 21 runs.
Saurashtra all-rounder Prerak Mankad (106 no off 72 balls) made a short work of a modest 212-run target set by Jharkhand, as his side crossed the line under 35 overs, losing only three wickets.
The third game of the group saw Uttar Pradesh beat Hyderabad by seven wickets. Hyderabad were all out for 149 with pacer Yash Dayal taking 5 for 31. In reply, UP overhauled the target in 26 overs with Karan Sharma scoring 44.
Brief Scores:
Delhi 267/5 (Jonty Sidhu 100 not out, Lalit Yadav 75, Anuj Rawat 44) beat Haryana 257 (Shivam Chauhan 107, Pramod Chandila 78, Pradeep Sangwan 5/52) by 10 runs.
Jharkhand 211 (Utkarsh Singh 55, Chetan Sakariya 2/51) lost to Saurashtra 212/3 (Prerak Mankad 106 not out) by 7 wickets.
Hyderabad 149 (Yash Dayal 5/31) lost to UP 150/3 in 26 overs (Karan Sharma scoring 44) by 7 wickets.
Brief Scores
Madhya Pradesh 331/9; 50 overs (Venkatesh Iyer 151, Aditya Shrivastava 70; Jagjit Singh 3/69, Sandeep Sharma 2/62) beat Chandigarh 326/8; 50 overs (Ankit Kaushik 111, Manan Vohra 105; Avesh Khan 3/72, Venkatesh 2/64, Puneet Datey 2/65) by five runs.
Uttarakhand 251/6; 50 overs (Swapnil Singh 66, Tanush Gusain 55, Vaibhav Bhatt 41 not out; Jagdish Zope 2/45, Mukesh Choudhary 2/68) lost to Maharashtra 252/6; 49.5 overs (Ankit Bawne 113 not out, Naushad Shaikh 47) by four wickets.
Chhattisgarh 189; 46.2 overs (Harpreet Singh 98; Sijomon Joseph 5/33, MD Nidheesh 2/21, Basil Thampi 2/38) lost to Kerala 193/5; 34.3 overs (Vinoop Manoharan 54 not out, Mohammed Azharuddeen 45; Ajay Mandal 3/27, Sumit Ruikar 2/63) by five wickets.
Rajasthan 335/3 in 50 overs (Manender Singh 166*, Mahipal Lomror 101; Pritam Das 2/70) beat Assam 193 in 39.1 overs (Riyan Parag 51, Kunal Saikia 45; Ravi Bishnoi 4/45, Kamlesh Nagarkoti 3/34, Aniket Choudhary 2/22) by 142 runs.
Services 260/5 in 50 overs (Rajat Paliwal 85, Mohit Ahlawat 71, Pulkit Narang 50; Harpreet Brar 2/41) lost to Punjab 261/1 in 37.5 overs (Abhishek Sharma 169*, Prabhsimran Singh 72) by nine wickets.
Goa 241/7 in 50 overs (Eknath Kerkar 70, Suyash Prabhudessai 55, Aditya Kaushik 44, Shubham Ranjane 41; Dhrushant Soni 3/59, Amit Kuila 2/52) lost to Railways 245/8 in 50 overs (Shivam Chaudhary 89, Vivek Singh 57, Dhrushant Soni 54; Shubham Ranjane 3/34, Amit Yadav 2/28) by two wickets.
