Vijay Hazare Trophy: Services notch up easy win on rain-marred day

CHENNAI: On a rain-affected opening day of the Vijay Hazare Trophy here, Services came out on top by seven wickets against Tripura in their Group C clash at Chepauk on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the matches between Assam and Gujarat at Murugappa ground & Haryana and Jharkhand at SRMC were called off without a ball bowled due to rain and wet outfield, giving the teams two points each.
Inserted in to bat by Services in overcast conditions, Tripura were up against it right from the outset.In a 43-over contest after rain had delayed the start of proceedings by an hour and 15 minutes, the Northeast outfit was reduced to 47/6 in 16.2 overs, with Smit Patel (21) and Bishal Ghosh (11) being the only batsmen to reach double figures among the top six. While the lower-order showed some resistance and added 71 runs for the last four wickets, they needed one of them to carry on and make a substantial contribution. For Services, opening bowler Diwesh Pathania returned with impressive figures of 3 for 28. Varun Choudhary and Abhishek Tiwari chipped in with a couple of wickets each.
Another rain interruption during the lunch interval led to a further deduction of overs, leaving Services needing a revised target of 107 from 35 overs. The Rajat Paliwal-led Services didn’t have much trouble chasing down the target, reaching home with seven wickets and 58 balls to spare. Rahul Singh, batting at No. 3, contributed 48 of those runs while skipper Paliwal stayed unbeaten on 24 at the end.
Summarised scores: At Chepauk: Tripura 118 in 38.4 overs (Diwesh Pathania 3/28). Services 108/3 in 25.2 overs (G Rahul Singh 48; Rana Datta 2/28). Services won by 7 wickets on VJD method; At SRMC: Match between Haryana and Jharkhand called off due to wet outfield (Two points each); At Murugappa ground: Match between Assam and Gujarat called off due to wet outfield (Two points each)