Punjab cantered to a comprehensive win against Odisha, while Karnataka won a cliff-hanger against Bengal in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. Stuart Binny’s all-round performance was the highlight for Karnataka while Amitoze Singh’s 91 off 126 balls set Punjab on course for victory.
Here is the round-up for the day:
Odisha vs Punjab: With a seven-wicket win over Odisha, Punjab cruised into the final for the domestic one-day trophy. Electing to field at the Sardar Vallabhai Patel Stadium, the Harbhajan Singh-led side restricted the opposition to 238/7.
Odisha opener Natraj Behera made 61 while Arabind Singh in the middle order scored 89 to help the team to a decent total while the rest of the line-up faltered. Abhilash Mallick (26-ball 36) was the next best score in the team. Except Amitoze Singh the rest of the Punjab bowlers chipped in with wickets to keep Odisha’s batsmen on a tight leash.
But Amitoze returned to lead the run-chase. However, the Punjab opener was unfortunate to be run-out and miss out on a century by nine runs. Although his opening partner, Manan Vohra was out early; trapped lbw for four by Suryakant Pradhan, the rest of the middle-order helped the team to the target with nine balls to spare. Mandeep Singh was the second highest scorer for Punjab with 81.
Bengal vs Karnataka: In a thrilling finish against Bengal, Karnataka scraped to a six-run win with a ball to spare. Defending 268 runs at the Motera B Ground, the Vinay Kumar-led side bowled the opposition out for 262.
Picking wickets at regular intervals they kept themselves in the fray even as Bengal looked to attain the target. With Bengal needing nine runs off the last over Abhimanyu Mithun claimed Ashoke Dinda and Saurasish Lahiri to bowl the team to victory.
He finished with 3/40 while Stuart Binny picked two, Vinay Kumar and Abrar Kazi took a wicket each. Earlier after being put in to bat, the team from South Zone were lifted to a respectable score by Binny’s half-century and Karun Nair’s 41.
By: BCCI
