Gujarat, Saurashtra & Baroda win opening league matches

Ahmedabad: A 106-run opening wicket partnership helped Saurashtra stroll to a 7-wicket win over Chandigarh on Saturday in their opening Group ‘A’ fixture in the Vijay Hazare Trophy in Delhi.
Electing to field first after winning the toss, Saurashtra’s left-arm duo of Jaydev Unadkat and Chetan Sakariya grabbed an early wicket each to put Chandigarh on the back foot.Prerak Mankad then trapped captain Manan Vohra in front to reduce Chandigarh to 48/3. Wickets continued to fall at regular intervals, and at 161/8 in 46.3 overs, Chandigarh were in danger of being bowled out for a below par total. However, Jagjit Singh smashed four sixes and as many boundaries as his 17-ball 47-run cameo to help the Union Territory to 215/9 in 50 overs. Sakariya took two wickets but conceded 74 from his l0 overs while Mankad bagged two scalps at the cost of 17 runs in eight overs. Unadkat, Chirag Jani and Yuvraj Chudasama picked up a wicket apiece.
In reply, Saurashtra openers Harvik Desai (68 off 97 balls) and Samarth Vyas (61 off 64 balls) hit contrasting half-centuries to help the team to a sedate start. Number three Cheteshwar Pujara too helped himself to a 33-run knock before being run out.
Thereafter, middle-order batters Sheldon Jackson and Arpit Vasavada took control with an unbroken 44-run stand for the fourth wicket as Saurashtra completed the formalities in 44.1 overs.
Meanwhile, in another Group ‘A’ match, Gujarat captain Priyank Panchal compiled a run-a-ball 136 (10x4, 3x6) to help his team to a dominant 152-run triumph over Manipur in the national capital. Bhargav Merai contributed 56 off 63 balls while late cameos from Saurav Chauhan (64 off 41 balls) and Chirag Gandhi (33 off 18 balls) helped Gujarat amass 337/6 in 50 overs.
In reply, Manipur were never in the contest and batted out 50 overs to post 185/9. Siddharth Desai picked up three wickets while veteran leggie Piyush Chawla too took two scalps for Gujarat in a tidy bowling performance.
Baroda, too, began their campaign with a 167-run victory over Nagaland in a Group ‘D’ fixture at the Wankhede in Mumbai. Baroda had Atit Sheth to thank for their total as his 87-run knock helped them recover from a precarious position to post 259 in 50 overs. Baroda then produced an incisive bowling display to bowl Nagaland out for 92.