Bengaluru, Dec 1: A day after their Test careers met with a dead end, veteran batters Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane on Friday soldiered on for Saurashtra and Mumbai respectively with contrasting results in the Vijay Hazare Trophy here.
Pujara’s 35th List A fifty, an arduous 114-ball 55, could not prevent a Saurashtra collapse for a lowly 144, and Mumbai, despite captain Rahane falling for 12, reached 150 for 5 in 34.4 overs for a five-wicket win at the Alur grounds.
Both Rahane and Pujara had failed to find a place in India’s Test side, which was announced on Thursday, to tour South Africa.
However, Shardul Thakur showed his all-round prowess to play a big part in Mumbai’s win.
Thakur first took 2 for 37 from eight overs as defending champions Saurashtra’s batting unit floundered.
Mumbai were on a shaky ground at 76 for 5, but Thakur (39 not out off 44 balls) and wicketkeeper batsman Prasad Pawar (43 not out off 63 balls) stitched together 74 runs for the unbroken sixth wicket to guide their side home.
Padikkal powers Karnataka
Devdutt Padikkal celebrated his entry into the India ‘A’ squad to tour South Africa, slamming a hundred to set the foundation for Karnataka’s 22-run victory over Chandigarh in a Group C match in Ahmedabad.
Padikkal’s 103-ball 114 and Nikin Jose’s 114-ball 96 powered Karnataka to 299 for 6 with skipper Manish Pandey chipping in with an unbeaten 53 off 48 balls.
The hundred by opener Arslan Khan (102 off 103 balls) and 51 by Ankit Kaushik kept Chandigarh in the hunt for a good while, but eventually they had to settle for 277 for 7 in 50 overs.
Punjab shock
star-studded TN
Fifties by Mandeep Singh (68), Prabhsimran Singh (58) helped Punjab outwit Tamil Nadu by 76 runs in their Group E match at the BKC grounds, Mumbai.
Punjab made a competitive 251 all out in 45.2 overs, and then bowled out a strong TN lineup for 175 in the 35th over.
Veteran Dinesh Karthik made an 82-ball 93 for them.
However, pacer Siddharth Kaul took 5 for 50 to hinder TN’s charge. (PTI)
